different between extremity vs bough

English

Etymology

From Middle English extremite, from Old French extremité, from Latin extr?mit?s (“extremity; border, perimeter; ending”), from extrem?s (“furthest, extreme”) + -it?s (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *-teh?ts (“suffix forming nouns indicating a state of being”); see extreme. Extrem?s is derived from exter (“external, outward”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h?e??s (“out”)) + -issimus (“suffix indicating a superlative”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *-is- (“suffix indicating a comparative”) + *-(t)m?mo- (“suffix indicating the absolutive case”)).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ?kstr?'m?t?, IPA^(key): /?k?st??m?ti/, /?k-/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?k?st??m?ti/, /-?i/
• Hyphenation: ex?tre?mi?ty

Noun

extremity (countable and uncountable, plural extremities or extremitys) (obsolete)

1. The most extreme or furthest point of something. [from c. 1400]
2. An extreme measure.
3. A hand or foot. [from early 15th c.]
4. A limb (“major appendage of a human or animal such as an arm, leg, or wing”). [from early 15th c.]

Synonyms

• (furthest point): tip
• (major appendage of human or animal): appendage, limb

Derived terms

• extremital

Related terms

• extreme
• extremely
• extremeness
• extremism
• extremist

Translations

Further reading

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

English

Alternative forms

• bow, bowe (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English bough, bowe, bogh, bo?e, bo?, from Old English b?h, b?g (“arm; shoulder; bough”), from Proto-Germanic *b?guz (“upper arm; shoulder”) (compare German Bug (“shoulder, hock, joint”)), from Proto-Indo-European *b?eh???ús (“forearm, elbow”) (compare Ancient Greek ????? (pêkhus, “forearm”), Old Armenian ?????? (bazuk, “arm, forearm, bough”), Persian ????? (b?zu, “upper arm”), Sanskrit ???? (b?hú, “arm”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ba?/
• Homophone: bow
• Rhymes: -a?

Noun

bough (plural boughs)

1. A firm branch of a tree.
   • 2013, J. M. Coetzee, The Childhood of Jesus. Melbourne, Australia: The Text Publishing Company, chapter 18. p. 172:

     A pair of birds settle on the bough above them, murmuring together, ready to roost.

2. (obsolete, poetic) The gallows.

Derived terms

• cut not the bough that you are standing upon

Translations

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “bough”, in Online Etymology Dictionary