height

noun
/haɪt/

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kewk- Proto-Indo-European *kówk-o-s Proto-Germanic *hauhaz Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂der. Proto-Germanic *-iþō Proto-Germanic *hauhiþō Proto-West Germanic *hauhiþu Old English hīehþu Middle English heighte English height From Middle English heighte, heiȝþe, from Old English hēahþu, hēhþo, hīehþu (“height”), Proto-West Germanic *hauhiþu, from Proto-Germanic *hauhiþō (compare *hauhaz). Equivalent to high + -t (abstract nominal suffix). The regular pronunciation is now obsolete /heɪt/ (as with other words in -eight); the modern form developed early on, at first as a variant, by analogy with the underlying adjective. Cognates See also Saterland Frisian Höchte, Hööchte (“height”), West Frisian hichte (“height”), Dutch hoogte (“height”), Middle High German hœhede, hœhte (“height”), Old Norse hæð (“height”) (compare Swedish höjd, Norwegian høyde), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐌷𐌹𐌸𐌰 (hauhiþa, “height”).

  1. inherited from *hauhiþō
  2. inherited from *hauhiþu
  3. inherited from hēahþu
  4. inherited from heighte

Definitions

  1. The distance from the base to the top of something.

    • Happiness Makes Up in Height for What It Lacks in Length [title of poem]
  2. The distance of something above the ground or some other chosen level.

    • We flew at a height of 15 000 meters.
    • I'm afraid of heights.
  3. A high point.

    • At length they arrived at the open road, skirted by a wide heath, bounded by the rising heights of the undulating country.
  4. + 2 more definitions
    1. A quality of vowels, indicating the vertical position of the tongue relative to the roof…

      A quality of vowels, indicating the vertical position of the tongue relative to the roof of the mouth; in practice, the first formant, associated with the height of the tongue.

    2. A surname.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at height. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01height02ground03earth04planet05orbit06sphere07dimensions08dimension

A definitional loop anchored at height. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

8 hops · closes at height

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA