width

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈwɪtθ/, /ˈwɪdθ/^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from wide with the suffix -th, on the model of breadth,^[2][3][4][5] displacing wideness.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Extent from side to side: 1627.^[6][2][7]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) called it a low word, and the OED a literary formation.^[2] Great extent, or wideness of mind, is from 1697,^[6] and a wide expanse from 1866.^[6] A piece of material at its full width is a later use,^[8][9] and the width of a swimming bath as a distance swum from 1930.^[6] Widthways and widthless are from 1852.^[6]

Timeline

• 1627 – breadth.^[6]
• 1697 – great extent.^[6]
• 1755 – Johnson's 'low word'.^[2]
• 1930 – a width of a pool.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The measurement of something from side to side; breadth.
2. The state of being wide.
3. A piece of material of full width: a width of cloth.
4. The distance across a swimming pool.

Word family

• bandwidth
• widthwise

Related words

• breadth
• wide
• length
• depth

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins