scythe

CEFRB2

/ˈsaɪð/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A tool with a long curved blade for cutting grass or crops.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A scythe-shaped blade attached to ancient war chariots.

Examples

  • The gardener cuts back the bushes with shears and the grass with a scythe.

  • Would you use a scythe instead of a lawnmower?

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
4

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. The tenth Lenormand card.

  2. 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.

verb

Extra meaning

  1. To use a scythe.

More examples

In context

  • And nothing 'gainst Time's scythe can make defence Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.

  • Early next morning the gudewife took a scythe on her shoulder, and went out in the fields with the hay-mowers to mow.

  • The boy began to keen, and the high-pitched noise scythed through Song's head.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The farmer used a sharp blank to cut the tall grass in the field.

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

Nearby

Origin

noun

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.