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pithy

UK/ˈpɪθi/US/ˈpɪθi/
adjectiveC1Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #11,352 of 15,258neutral

Pithy means short, pointed and full of meaning. A pithy remark, pithy and quotable, keep it pithy.

The praise is in the density: a pithy line says a great deal in very few words, which is why it is what editors ask for. The pith is the soft core of a stem, and the sense of the essential thing came from there.

Definitions of pithy

  1. 1adjectivepithyShort, pointed and full of meaning.C1

    “The teacher wrote a pithy comment at the end of my long essay: "Less is more."”

pithy is a quality.

Where it comes from

From pith, the soft core of a plant stem, plus -y, by way of the sense of the essential part.

  1. Middle English

    pithy,pythy

  2. English, today

    pithy

From Middle English pithy,pythy, equivalent to pith + -y.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

pithy in the wild

  • Strips usually feature a short, pithy and sometimes surreal exchange between the title characters.

    Boy on a Stick and Slither

  • In addition to his columns on current affairs, Sarasohn is noted for his pithy and incisive restaurant reviews in The Oregonian.

    David Sarasohn

  • Not afraid of courting controversy or causing offence, he is remembered for his eccentric behaviour and pithy quotes, as much as for his original boat designs.

    Uffa Fox

  • All of the species have soft, pithy wood.

    Scalesia

  • Some shows also include pithy, hard-hitting running commentary on local, national, and international topics.

    WHHB

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.