girth
/ɡɜːθ/US/ɡɝθ/
girth noun: a band passed under the belly of an animal, which holds a saddle or a harness saddle in place.
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Noun
girth (countable and uncountable, plural girths)
- A band passed under the belly of an animal, which holds a saddle or a harness saddle in place.
- 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.1929, Baldwyn Dyke Acland, chapter 8, in Filibuster
- The part of an animal around which the girth fits.
- One's waistline circumference, most often a large one.
- He's a lusty, jolly fellow, that lives well, at least three yards in the girth.1716 March 15 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison, “The Free-holder: No. 22. Sunday, March 5. [1716.]”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq; […], volume IV, London: […] Jacob...
- A small horizontal brace or girder.
- The distance measured around an object; the circumference.
- The length of the shortest cycle in a graph.
Verb
girth (third-person singular simple present girths, present participle girthing, simple past and past participle girthed)
- To bind as if with a girth or band.
girth meaning in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Odia
girth in Tamil
- சுற்று
girth in Malayalam
- അരവണ്ണം, നടുക്കെട്ട്, പട്ട, ചുറ്റളവ്
girth in Kannada
- ಸುತ್ತಳತೆ, ಸುತ್ತುಪಟ್ಟಿ, ಕುದುರೆಯ ಟಂಗು, ಜೀನುಪಟ್ಟಿ
girth in Odia
- girth; circumference
- ବେଢ଼ beṛha
More languagesFewer languages
- girth in Sanskrit
- मेखला mékhalā, रशना raśanā́, परिकर parikara
- girth in Tagalog
- satiyan, paniyan
Examples of girth in a sentence
- Not when Kanter and Adams, two mountainous players, could match the Knicks’ girth with their own.
- Consider, first, their absurd sartorial appurtenances, such as leggings sewn with skinny girths.
- The children are to stretch several different sizes of rubberbands around the entire shoebox's girth.
Synonyms of girth
Forms of girth
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | girths |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | girths |
| present participle | girthing |
| past participle | girthed |
| past | girthed |
Origin of girth
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”).
Words formed from girth
Phrases with girth
Words that rhyme with girth
2 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about girth
- What does girth mean?
- Girth means a band passed under the belly of an animal, which holds a saddle or a harness saddle in place.
- What is girth in Tamil?
- Girth in Tamil is சுற்று. See Girth meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is girth?
- Girth can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce girth?
- Girth is pronounced /ɡɜːθ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of girth?
- The plural of girth is girths.
Words near girth in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: girth (page history and authors); girth (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); girth (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); girth (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ବେଢ଼ (Odia) (page history and authors); परिकर (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-girth.wav.
Cite this entry: “girth.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/girth. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.