scythe
pronunciation
How to pronounce scythe in British English:
UK [saɪð]
How to pronounce scythe in American English:
US [saɪð]
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- Noun:
- an edge tool for cutting grass; has a long handle that must be held with both hands and a curved blade that moves parallel to the ground
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- Verb:
- cut with a scythe
Word Origin
- scythe
- scythe: [OE] Scythe goes back ultimately to the Indo-European base *sek- ‘cut’, source also of English section, segment, sickle, etc. Its Germanic descendant was *seg-, which produced the noun *segithō, source of English scythe (the variant *sag- lies behind English saw). Until the 17th century the word was generally spelled sythe; modern scythe is due to the influence of scissors.=> section, segment, sickle
- scythe (n.)
- Old English siðe, sigði, from Proto-Germanic *segithoz (cognates: Middle Low German segede, Middle Dutch sichte, Old High German segensa, German Sense), from PIE root *sek- "to cut" (see section (n.)). The sc- spelling crept in early 15c., from influence of Latin scissor "carver, cutter" and scindere "to cut." Compare French scier "saw," a false spelling from sier.
- scythe (v.)
- 1570s, "use a scythe;" 1590s "to mow;" from scythe (n.). From 1897 as "move with the sweeping motion of a scythe." Related: Scythed; scything.
Example
- 1. Do you know what the scythe means ?
- 2. What do you need the scythe for ?
- 3. The farmer cut a swathe in the field with his scythe .
- 4. The scythe is the emblem of the grim reaper .
- 5. And yellower than the daffodil that blooms in the meadow before the mower comes with his scythe .