scythe

== English == === Alternative forms === sithe, sythe (archaic) zive (Exmoor dialect) === Etymology === From Middle English sythe, sithe, from Old English sīþe, sīgþe, sigdi (“sickle”), from Proto-West Germanic *sigiþi, from Proto-Germanic *sigiþiz, *sigiþō, derived from *seg- (“saw”), from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”). Immediate Germanic cognates include Middle Low German sēgede, Dutch zicht, Icelandic sigð (all “sickle”). More distantly related with Dutch zeis, German Sense (both “scythe”). Also akin to English saw, which see. The silent c crept in during the early 15th century owing to folk-etymological association with Medieval Latin scissor (“tailor, carver”), from Latin scindō (“to cut, rend, split”). The verb, which was first used in the intransitive sense, is from the noun. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈsaɪð/, (some accents) IPA(key): /ˈsaɪθ/ Hyphenation: scythe Rhymes: -aɪð, -aɪθ === Noun === scythe (plural scythes) An instrument for mowing grass, grain, etc. by hand, composed of a long, curving blade with a sharp concave edge, fastened to a long handle called a snath. [before 10th century] (historical) A scythe-shaped blade attached to ancient war chariots. (cartomancy) The tenth Lenormand card. ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== ==== Further reading ==== Scythe on Wikipedia.Wikipedia Scythe in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911) === Verb === scythe (third-person singular simple present scythes, present participle scything, simple past and past participle scythed) (intransitive) To use a scythe. [from 1570s] (transitive) To cut with a scythe. [from 1570s] (transitive) To cut off as with a scythe; to mow. [from 1590s] (intransitive, figurative, often with through) To attack or injure as if cutting. ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === References === === Anagrams === Tyches, chesty == French == === Etymology === See Scythe (“Scythian”) === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /sit/ Homophones: cite, citent, cites, scythes, Scythe, Scythes, site, sites === Adjective === scythe (plural scythes) Scythian === Further reading === “scythe”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012