width | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

14 entries found.

1620s, formed from wide on model of breadth, and replacing wideness (Old English widnes). Johnson (1755) calls it "a low word." Related: Widthwise.

bandwidth (n.)

1930, in electronics, from band (n.1) + width.

wrath (n.)

Old English wræððu "anger," from wrað "angry" (see wroth) + -þu, from Proto-Germanic -itho (as in strength, width etc.; see -th (2)).

breadth (n.)

"distance between the sides," late 14c., alteration of brede "breadth," from Old English brædu "breadth, width, extent," from bræd; probably by analogy of long/length.

laxity (n.)

1520s, from French laxité, from Latin laxitatem (nominative laxitas) "width, spaciousness," from laxus "loose, lax" (see lax). An earlier noun was laxation (late 14c.). Laxness is from 1630s.

broadcloth (n.)

also broad-cloth, "fine woolen cloth used in making men's garments," early 15c., from broad (adj.) + cloth (n.). So called from its width (usually 60 inches).

amplitude (n.)

1540s, "state or quality of being ample," from French amplitude or directly from Latin amplitudinem (nominative amplitudo) "wide extent, width," from amplus "large, spacious" (see ample). Amplitude modulation in reference to radio wave broadcast (as opposed to frequency modulation) first attested 1921, usually abbreviated A.M. Related: Amplitudinous.

abroad (adv.)

mid-13c., "widely apart," a contraction of on brode, from Old English on brede, "in width," literally "at wide" (see a- (1) + broad (adj.)). From c. 1300 as "at a distance from each other," hence "out of doors, away from home" (late 14c.) also "at a distance generally" (early 15c.), and the main modern sense, "out of one's country, overseas" (mid-15c.).

ravel (n.)

1630s, "a tangle;" 1832, "a broken thread, a loose end," from ravel (v.). As the name of a weaving instrument for guiding separate yarns, 1805, also raddle, but this is perhaps a separate word influenced by ravel.

RADDLE. In New England, an instrument consisting of a wooden bar, with a row of upright pegs set in it, which is employed by domestic weavers to keep the warp of a proper width, and prevent it from becoming entangled when it is wound upon the beam of a loom. [Bartlett, "Dictionary of Americanisms," 1848]

height (n.)

Old English hiehþu, Anglian hehþo "highest part or point, summit; the heavens, heaven," from root of heah "high" (see high) + -itha, Germanic abstract noun suffix (as in width, depth; see -th (2)). Compare Old Norse hæð, Middle Dutch hoochte, Old High German hohida, Gothic hauhiþa "height." Meaning "distance from bottom to top" is from late 13c. Meaning "excellence, high degree of a quality" is late 14c. Century Dictionary says "there is no reason for the distinction of vowel between high and height. The modern pronunciation with -t emerged 13c. but wasn't established until 19c.; Milton used highth and heighth is still colloquial in English. Compare Dutch hoogte, Danish hjöde.

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