pith
noun · verb
Simple meaning
The soft tissue inside a human or animal body or one of their organs.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
pithIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpɪθ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience
figurative
The essential or vital part of something; the essence.
figurative
The central or innermost part of something; the core, the heart.
figurative
Physical power or strength; force, might.
figurative
Chiefly in of (great) pith and moment: gravity, importance, substance, weight.
figurative
The energy, force, or power of speech or writing; specifically, such force or power due to conciseness; punch, punchiness.
verb
To render insensate or kill (an animal, especially cattle or a laboratory animal) by cutting, piercing, or otherwise destroying the spinal cord.
Remove the pith from (a plant)
To extract the pith from (something or (figurative) someone).
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The soft tissue inside a human or animal body or one of their organs; specifically, the spongy interior substance of a horn or the shaft of a feather.
Used this way, pith is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A lightweight hat worn in tropical countries for protection from the sun.
A lightweight hat worn in tropical countries for protection from the sun.
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.