width

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun the extent of something from side to side

Etymology

PIE word *dwóh₁ From wide + -th (abstract nominal suffix), possibly by analogy with Old Norse vídd (“width”), though this is unlikely, as the word is not attested before the end of the 16th century and was historically unknown in Scots and the traditional dialect of Northern England, where one would expect Old Norse influence to be the strongest (these varieties traditionally employed wideness instead). Replaced Middle English wide, wyde (“width”).

In classic literature

Synonyms

breadth

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