wite

¹

Or wyte

[wahyt]

noun

1. (in Anglo-Saxon law)

   1. a fine imposed by a king or lord on a subject who committed a serious crime.

   2. a fee demanded for granting a special privilege.

2. Chiefly Scot.,  responsibility for a crime, fault, or misfortune; blame.

verb (used with object)

wited, witing 

1. Chiefly Scot.,  to blame for; declare guilty of.

wite

²

[wahyt]

verb

1. a present plural of wit.

Word History and Origins

Origin of wite¹

before 900; (noun) Middle English, Old English wīte penalty; cognate with Old High German wīzi, Old Norse vīti; (v.) Middle English witen, Old English wītan to blame

Example Sentences

Such naturalistic imagery is of a piece with the Middle English poetry this work invokes, as in the opening lines of its first poem, which finds the speaker browsing clothes at a shopping mall and navigating its women’s bathroom: “thees wite skirtes / & orang sweters / i wont / inn the feedynge marte / wile mye vegetable partes bloome / inn the commen waye / a grackel inn the guarden rooste / the tall wymon wasching handes.”

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“And even if I could wite, I couldn’t wead them later!”

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“When I was 5, I couldn’t wead, I couldn’t wite,” Nate said, mimicking his own early rhotacism.

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Washington Post journalist Dan Zak also shared a video of a peaceful park, captioning it "Washington, D.C., is simply out of control," just days after the violent protests that harassed Republican National Convention attendees outside the Wite House.

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Someone also spray-painted “wite pride” on the side of Hubert Roberts’ Chevy Silverado in Vienna Township.

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