fathom
pronunciation
How to pronounce fathom in British English:
UK [ˈfæðəm]
How to pronounce fathom in American English:
US [ˈfæðəm]
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- Noun:
- a linear unit of measurement (equal to 6 feet) for water depth
- (mining) a unit of volume (equal to 6 cubic feet) used in measuring bodies of ore
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- Verb:
- come to understand
- measure the depth of (a body of water) with a sounding line
Word Origin
- fathom
- fathom: [OE] The underlying etymological meaning of fathom appears to be ‘stretching out, spreading’. It probably comes ultimately from the Indo-European base *pot-, *pet-, which also produced Latin patēre ‘be open’ (source of English patent) and Greek pétalos ‘outspread’ (source of English petal). Its Germanic descendant was *fath-, which produced the noun *fathmaz, direct ancestor of Old English fæthm.Here, the notion of ‘stretching out’ seems to have spread via ‘stretching out the arms’ to, on the one hand ‘embrace’ (and one meaning of Old English fæthm was ‘embrace, bosom’), and on the other ‘length spanned by outstretched arms’ – about six feet.=> patent, petal
- fathom (n.)
- Old English fæðm "length of the outstretched arm" (a measure of about six feet), also "arms, grasp, embrace," and, figuratively "power," from Proto-Germanic *fathmaz "embrace" (cognates: Old Norse faðmr "embrace, bosom," Old Saxon fathmos "the outstretched arms," Dutch vadem "a measure of six feet"), from PIE *pot(ə)-mo-, from root *petə- "to spread, stretch out" (see pace (n.)). It has apparent cognates in Old Frisian fethem, German faden "thread," which OED explains by reference to "spreading out." As a unit of measure, in an early gloss it appears for Latin passus, which was about 5 feet.
- fathom (v.)
- Old English fæðmian "to embrace, surround, envelop," from a Proto-Germanic verb derived from the source of fathom (n.); cognates: Old High German fademon, Old Norse faþma. The meaning "take soundings" is from c. 1600; its figurative sense of "get to the bottom of, penetrate with the mind, understand" is from 1620s. Related: Fathomed; fathoming.
Synonym
Example
- 1. The reason is not hard to fathom .
- 2. Recording reflections you could not fathom .
- 3. Chinese sensitivity to meetings with the tibetan leader is hard to fathom .
- 4. I cannot fathom your world rin .
- 5. I can 't fathom him .