lithe
[ lahyth ]
/ laɪð /
adjective, lith·er, lith·est.
bending readily; pliant; limber; supple; flexible: the lithe body of a ballerina.
RELATED WORDS
supple, agile, nimble, slim, limber, lean, lissome, loose, pliable, pliant, slight, spare, thin, lightsome
Nearby words
- lith,
- lith-,
- lith.,
- lithagogue,
- litharge,
- lithectomy,
- lithely,
- lithemia,
- lithesome,
- lithia
Also lithe·some [lahyth -suh m] /ˈlaɪð səm/.
Origin of lithe
before 900; Middle English lith(e), Old English līthe; cognate with Old Saxon līthi, German lind “mild,” Latin lentus “slow”
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for lithe
lithe
/ (laɪð) /
adjective
flexible or supple
Word Origin for lithe
Old English (in the sense: gentle; C15: supple); related to Old High German lindi soft, Latin lentus slow
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
lithe
Old English liðe "soft, mild, gentle, meek," from Proto-Germanic *linthja- (cf. Old Saxon lithi "soft, mild, gentle," Old High German lindi, German lind, Old Norse linr, with characteristic loss of "n" before "th" in English), from PIE root *lent- "flexible" (cf. Latin lentus "flexible, pliant, slow," Sanskrit lithi). In Middle English, used of the weather. Current sense of "easily flexible" is from c.1300. Related: Litheness.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper