different between depth vs breath

English

Etymology

From Middle English depthe, from Old English *d?epþ (“depth”), from Proto-Germanic *diupiþ? (“depth”), equivalent to deep +? -th. Cognate with Scots deepth (“depth”), Saterland Frisian Djüpte (“depth”), West Frisian djipte (“depth”), Dutch diepte (“depth”), Low German Deepde (“depth”), Danish dybde (“depth”), Icelandic dýpt (“depth”), Gothic ???????????????????????????? (diupiþa, “depth”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?p?/
• Rhymes: -?p?

Noun

depth (countable and uncountable, plural depths)

1. the vertical distance below a surface; the degree to which something is deep

   Synonyms: deepness, lowness

2. the distance between the front and the back, as the depth of a drawer or closet
3. (figuratively) the intensity, complexity, strength, seriousness or importance of an emotion, situation, etc.

4. lowness

5. (computing, colors) the total palette of available colors
6. (art, photography) the property of appearing three-dimensional

7. (literary, usually in the plural) the deepest part (usually of a body of water)

8. (literary, usually in the plural) a very remote part.

9. the most severe part

10. (logic) the number of simple elements which an abstract conception or notion includes; the comprehension or content
11. (horology) a pair of toothed wheels which work together
12. (aeronautics) the perpendicular distance from the chord to the farthest point of an arched surface
13. (statistics) the lower of the two ranks of a value in an ordered set of values

Synonyms

• (deep place): abyss, bottom, bathos, nadir

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

English

Alternative forms

• breth (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English breeth, breth, from Old English br?þ (“odor, scent, stink, exhalation, vapor”), from Proto-Germanic *br?þaz (“vapour, waft, exhalation, breath”) of unknown origin, perhaps from *g?wer- (“smell”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: brêth, IPA^(key): /b???/
• Rhymes: -??

Noun

breath (countable and uncountable, plural breaths)

1. (uncountable) The act or process of breathing.

   • Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.

2. (countable) A single act of breathing in or out; a breathing of air.

   • Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. […] She put back a truant curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to the world, and looked him full in the face now, drawing a deep breath which caused the round of her bosom to lift the lace at her throat.

   • She knew from avalanche safety courses that outstretched hands might puncture the ice surface and alert rescuers. She knew that if victims ended up buried under the snow, cupped hands in front of the face could provide a small pocket of air for the mouth and nose. Without it, the first breaths could create a suffocating ice mask.

3. (uncountable) Air expelled from the lungs.

4. (countable) A rest or pause.

5. A small amount of something, such as wind, or common sense.

6. (obsolete) Fragrance; exhalation; odor; perfume.
   • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Gardens

     the breath of flowers

7. (obsolete) Gentle exercise, causing a quicker respiration.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

breath (third-person singular simple present breaths, present participle breathing, simple past and past participle breathed)

1. Misspelling of breathe.

   In the polar regions one finds dark cold waters with few places to breath.

See also

• exhalation
• inhalation
• respiration

Anagrams

• Bertha, bareth, bather, bertha

Irish

Noun 1

breath f (genitive singular breithe, nominative plural breitheanna)

1. Alternative form of breith (“birth; lay; bearing capacity; bringing, taking; seizing; catching, overtaking”)

Noun 2

breath f (genitive singular breithe, nominative plural breitheanna)

1. Alternative form of breith (“judgment, decision; injunction”)

Declension

Mutation

References

• "breath" in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.