girth

CEFRC1

/ɡˈɜrθ/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    The distance around the middle of a person or object.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    One's waistline circumference, most often a large one.

Examples

  • Due to his expanding girth, he shifted from belts to suspenders.

  • The incredible girth of a Sequoia tree is necessary to support its titanic height.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
2
Synonyms
2

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. The part of an animal around which the girth fits.

  2. A band passed under the belly of an animal, which holds a saddle or a harness saddle in place.

  3. A small horizontal brace or girder.

More examples

In context

  • Girth is more significant than length.

  • He's a lusty, jolly fellow, that lives well, at least three yards in the girth.

  • He was standing on the offside of his horse, holding up the flap of his saddle, with the surcingle loosened, and was pointing to the girths. Close to their attachment to the saddle they had been almost cut through with a knife.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The tree's blank was so large that two people could not wrap their arms around it.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English girth, gerth, gyrth, from Old Norse gjǫrð, from Proto-Germanic *gerdō, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰerdʰ- (“to encircle, enclose; belt”). Cognate with Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌳𐌰 (gairda), Icelandic gjörð. Also related to German Gurt, English gird, Albanian ngërthej (“to tie, bind, fasten”).