lith
UK/lɪθ/
lith noun: a limb; any member of the body.
Noun (1)
lith (plural liths)
- A limb; any member of the body.
- A joint; a segment or symmetrical part or division.
- lith and limb; out of lith
- he departed with the lady / & brouȝt her to Camelot / Soo as they rode in a valey it was ful of stones / and there the ladyes hors stumbled and threwe her doun that her arme was sore brysed and nere she swouned for payne / Allas syr sayd the lady myn arme is oute of lythe wher thorow I must nedes...1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “xiij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book III
- A segment of an orange, or similar fruit.
Noun (2)
lith (uncountable)
Noun (3)
lith (plural liths)
Noun (4)
lith (plural liths)
Proper noun capitalized: LITH
LITH
- Acronym of Lake in the Hills, Illinois.
Forms of lith
| plural | liths |
|---|---|
| alternative form | lythe |
Origin of lith
From Middle English lith, lyth, from Old English liþ (“limb, member, joint, tip of finger, point”), from Proto-Germanic *liþuz (“limb”), of unknown origin. Cognate with Scots lith (“part of the body, joint”), West Frisian lid (“part of the body, member”), Dutch lid (“limb, member, section”), Middle High German lit (“limb, member”), Swedish led (“joint, link, channel”), Icelandic liður (“item”), Dutch lid (“part of the body; member”) and gelid (“joint, rank, file”), German Glied (“limb, member, link”).
From Middle English lith, lyth (“owndom”), from Old Norse lýðr (“people, lede”), from Proto-Germanic *liudiz (“men, people”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁lewdʰ- (“man, people”). Cognate with Dutch lieden and lui, German Leute (“people”), Old English lēode (“people”). More at lede.
From Middle English *lith, from Old Norse hlið (“a gap, gate, space”), from Proto-Germanic *hlidą (“door, lid, eyelid”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to conceal, hide”). Cognate with dialectal Norwegian lid, led (“an opening in a fence”), Scots lith (“a gap in a fence, gate opening”), Old English hlid (“lid, covering, door, gate, opening”). More at lid.
Words formed from lith
Words that rhyme with lith
Questions about lith
- What does lith mean?
- Lith means a limb; any member of the body.
- What part of speech is lith?
- Lith can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce lith?
- Lith is pronounced /lɪθ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of lith?
- The plural of lith is liths.
Words near lith in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lith (page history and authors); LITH (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.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “lith.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lith. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.