height

Pronunciation

• IPA: /haɪt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English heighthe, inherited from Old English hīehþu, Anglian hēhþu “highest part, summit; heaven”,^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *hauhiþō,^[4] formed from the root of hēah “high” and the abstract suffix -þu, as in width and depth.^[2][3] It is cognate with Dutch hoogte, Old High German hōhida, Old Norse hæð and Gothic hauhiþa.^[2][3][4] It is related to high.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The highest part or point, a summit: before 900 in Barnhart, in Cynewulf's Elene.^[3] The quality of being high is about 1230, in the Ancrene Riwle.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The distance from bottom to top is from the late 13th century (about 1290 in the OED),^[2][6] and a high degree or the highest point of a quality, as in the height of fashion, by the late 14th century.^[2] The ending varied between -th and -t from the 13th century,^[3] the change of -hþ to -ht being originally northern;^[4] by analogy with words like drought the -t form became standard by the late 1800s,^[3] though Milton wrote highth and heighth is still heard colloquially.^[2] The vowel goes back to the Anglian form.^[3] The plural heights, high ground, is used in place names.^[7][8] Heighten is from about 1450.^[3]

Timeline

• a. 900 – the highest point, summit.^[3]
• c. 1230 – the quality of being high.^[3]
• c. 1290 – distance from base to top.^[6]
• late 14th century – the highest degree.^[2]
• c. 1450 – heighten.^[3]
• 1551 – the elevation of a star above the horizon.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The measurement from the bottom to the top of something, or how tall a person is.
2. Distance above a level such as the ground or the sea; altitude.
3. The quality of being high or tall.
4. (often heights) A high place: a fear of heights.
5. The most intense or extreme point: the height of summer.

Word family

• heighten
• heightism
• x-height
• height to paper
• metacentric height
• slant height

Related words

• high
• heights

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins