Other forms: girths
Girth is the measurement round something thick. The girth of the tree, considerable girth, measure the girth.
It is the distance around rather than across, which is what foresters measure at chest height to age a tree. In riding, the girth is the strap under the horse that holds the saddle on. Of a person it is a polite euphemism for size. Note that the word is Norse and related to gird, to encircle.
1noungirthThe measurement round something thick.
“The ancient oak has such a girth that three people can't reach around it.”
2nounstrapThe strap holding a saddle on.
“Before mounting, she tightened the girth so that the saddle wouldn't slip.”
girth is a measurement.
Old Norse gjord comes from a root meaning to encircle. Gird, girdle and garden come from the same encircling.
Proto-Indo-European
*gʰerdʰ- — to encircle, enclose; belt
Proto-Germanic
*gerdō
Old Norse
gjǫrð
Middle English
girth
English, today
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, Icelandic gjörð. Also related to German Gurt, English gird, Albanian ngërthej (“to tie, bind, fasten”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA