thwaite
pronunciation
How to pronounce thwaite in British English:
UK [θweɪt]
How to pronounce thwaite in American English:
US [θweɪt]
Word Origin
- thwaite (n.)
- "cleared land," 1620s, from Old Norse or Old Danish þveit "a clearing, meadow, paddock," literally "a cutting, cut-piece" (related to Old English þwitan "to cut, cut off;" see whittle). Always a rare word and now obsolete, but frequently encountered in place names, but "It is unclear whether the base meaning was 'something cut off, detached piece of land,' or 'something cut down, felled tree' ..." [Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names].
Example
- 1. How long are you staying in holland , mr. thwaite ?
- 2. Ann thwaite 's aa milne : his life won the whitbread prize for the best biography of 1990 .