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scythe

UK/ˈsaɪð/US/ˈsaɪð/
nounB2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #11,899 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: scythes

A scythe is a long curved blade on a handle for cutting grass by hand. Swing a scythe, sharpen the scythe, mow with a scythe.

It is used two-handed with a twisting sweep from the hips rather than the arms, and a skilled mower can clear ground faster than a strimmer and in silence. The blade is peened as well as sharpened, which is a craft of its own.

Elf · Public domain

Definitions of scythe

  1. 1nounscytheA long curved blade on a handle for cutting grass by hand.B2+

    “The farmer swung his scythe, and the long grass fell in neat rows.”

scythe is a tool.

Where it comes from

Old English sithe names the tool, from a Germanic root meaning to cut. Sickle is a relative.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *sek- — to cut

  2. Proto-Germanic

    *sigiþiz

  3. Proto-West Germanic

    *sigiþi

  4. Old English

    sīþe

  5. Middle English

    sythe

  6. English, today

    scythe

Built from

  • sigdi · Old English — sickle
  • *seg- · Proto-West Germanic — saw

From Middle English sythe, sithe, from Old English sīþe, sīgþe, sigdi (“sickle”), from Proto-West Germanic sigiþi, from Proto-Germanic sigiþiz, sigiþō, derived from seg- (“saw”), from Proto-Indo-European sek- (“to cut”). Immediate gem - cognates include Middle Low German sēgede, Dutch zicht, Icelandic sigð (all “sickle”). More distantly related with Dutch zeis, German Sense (both “scythe”). Also akin to saw, which see. The silent c crept in during the early 15th century owing to folk-etymological association with Medieval Latin scissor (“tailor, carver”), from Latin scindō (“to cut, rend, split”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Farm & Countryside

Practise this word

scythe in the wild

  • The wings and hourglass were early Renaissance additions and he eventually became a companion of the Grim Reaper, personification of Death, often taking his scythe.

    Father Time

  • A scythe (, rhyming with writhe) is an agricultural hand-tool for mowing grass or harvesting crops.

    Scythe

  • Horse-drawn and then tractor machinery largely replaced the scythe, but it is still used in some areas of Europe and Asia, especially in Yakutia, Siberia.

    Scythe

  • The scythed chariot was a war chariot with scythe blades mounted on each side.

    Scythed chariot

  • The scythed chariot was employed by various civilizations throughout antiquity, including the Persian Achaemenid Empire and the Kingdom of Pontus.

    Scythed chariot

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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.