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tithe

UK/taɪð/US/taɪð/
nounC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #15,217 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: tithes

A tithe is a tenth of your income given to the church. Pay the tithe.

It was a legal obligation in England until the nineteenth century, and tithe barns still stand. A tithe is now voluntary and is still practised in several churches.

Definitions of tithe

  1. 1nountitheA tenth of your income given to the church.C1

    “The tithe barn is the only medieval building left in the village.”

tithe is a payment.

Where it comes from

Old English teotha means a tenth, and the word is simply the old form of tenth.

  1. Old English

    tēoþa

  2. Middle English

    tithe

  3. English, today

    tithe

Built from

  • *tehundô · Proto-Germanic — a tenth

From Middle English tithe, tythe, tethe, from Old English tēoþa, tēoða, teogoþa (in verb senses via Middle English tithen, tythen, tethen, from Old English tēoþian, teogoþian), from a proposed Proto-Germanic tehunþô, tehundô (“a tenth”), with its nasal consonant being lost according to the Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law. Cognate with West Frisian tsiende (“tithe”), stq Teeged (“tithe”), Dutch tiende, German Low German Teihnte, {{cog|de|

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

tithe in the wild

  • A tithe barn was a type of barn used in much of northern Europe in the Middle Ages for storing rents and tithes.

    Tithe barns in Europe

  • Tithe barns were usually associated with the village church or rectory, and independent farmers took their tithes there.

    Tithe barns in Europe

  • Modern tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash, cheques or via online giving, whereas historically tithes were required and paid in kind, such as agricultural produce.

    Tithe

  • Traditional Jewish law and practice has included various forms of tithing since ancient times.

    Tithe

  • The Church of the Holy Ghost, Midsomer Norton, Somerset, England is a Roman Catholic parish church housed in a converted tithe barn.

    Church of the Holy Ghost, Midsomer Norton

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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.