different between cubit vs fathom

English

Etymology

From Middle English cubite, from Latin cubitum (“elbow, cubit”). Doublet of cubitus.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?kju?.b?t/
• (US) enPR: kyo?o'b?t, IPA^(key): /?kju.b?t/
• Rhymes: -u?b?t
• Homophone: qubit

Noun

cubit (plural cubits)

1. (historical units of measure) Various former units of length notionally based on the distance from a grown man's elbow to his fingertips, standardized in different places and times at values between 35 and 60 cm.

   • Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

2. (anatomy) The ulna.

Usage notes

In English, most commonly encountered in biblical Hebrew measures based on the shorter of the two Egyptian cubits, although the term is also used broadly for other units between the length of a foot and a yard. These may be clarified with a preceding adjective: Greek cubit, Roman cubit, etc.

Synonyms

• (unit of length): ell (now properly a separate English unit); arshin, Russian cubit (Russian contexts); dira (modern Middle Eastern contexts)
• (bone): See ulna

Hyponyms

• royal cubit

Related terms

• cubitus
• qubit

Translations

Malay

Alternative forms

• ??????

Etymology

From Proto-Malayic *-bit, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *-bit, from Proto-Austronesian *-bit.

Pronunciation

• (Johor-Selangor) IPA^(key): /t??ubet/
• (Riau-Lingga) IPA^(key): /t??ub?t/
• Rhymes: -ubet, -bet, -et

Verb

cubit (Jawi spelling ?????, used in the form mencubit)

1. to pinch (to squeeze a small amount of skin)

Middle English

Noun

cubit

1. Alternative form of cubite

English

Etymology

From Middle English fathome, fadome, from Old English fæþm, fæþme (“outstretched or encircling arms, embrace, grasp, protection, interior, bosom, lap, breast, womb, fathom, cubit, power, expanse, surface”), from Proto-Germanic *faþmaz (“embrace”), from Proto-Indo-European *pet- (“to spread out, extend”). Cognate with Low German fadem, faem (“a cubit, thread”), Dutch vadem, vaam (“fathom”), German Faden (“thread, filament, fathom”), Danish favn (“embrace, fathom”), Norwegian Bokmål favn (“embrace, fathom”), Swedish famn (“the arms, bosom, embrace”), Icelandic faðmur (“embrace”), Latin pate?, Ancient Greek ????????? (petánnumi), Ancient Greek ??????? (pétalos) [whence English petal].

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fæð?m/

Noun

fathom (plural fathoms)

1. (obsolete) Grasp, envelopment, control.
2. (units of measure, now usually nautical) An English unit of length for water depth notionally based upon the width of grown man's outstretched arms but standardized as 6 feet (about 1.8 m).

   Synonyms: brace, (obsolete) stade, (Greek) orguia
3. (units of measure) Various similar units in other systems.
   • 1611, Bible (KJV), Acts 27:28:

     And sounded, and found it twentie fathoms: and when they had gone a little further, they sounded againe, and found it fifteene fathoms.

4. (figuratively) Depth of insight, mental reach or scope.

Translations

Verb

fathom (third-person singular simple present fathoms, present participle fathoming, simple past and past participle fathomed)

1. (transitive, archaic) To encircle with outstretched arms, especially to take a measurement; to embrace.
2. (transitive) To measure the depth of, take a sounding of.
3. (transitive, figuratively) To get to the bottom of; to manage to comprehend; understand (a problem etc.).

   Synonyms: fathom out, figure out, puzzle out, work out

Translations

Derived terms

• fathomable
• fathometer
• fathomless
• fathom out
• unfathomable

See also

• deep six

Further reading

• fathom in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• fathom in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• fathom at OneLook Dictionary Search
• fathom on Wikipedia.Wikipedia