different between hight vs wight

English

Alternative forms

• highte

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -a?t
• IPA^(key): /ha?t/
• Homophone: height

Etymology 1

From Middle English hight (“to be named, be called”) (alternative past participle of hoten, see also hote), from Old English h?ht (“was named, was called”, preterite of h?tan), from *hehait-, reduplicate preterite base of Proto-Germanic *haitan? (“to call, command, summon”).

Verb

hight (no third-person singular simple present, no present participle, simple past and past participle hight)hight is only the preterite or past participle, not the infinitive or present.

1. (obsolete) simple past tense of hote
2. (archaic, transitive) To call, name.
3. (archaic, intransitive) To be called or named.
4. (archaic, dialectal) To command; to enjoin.

Usage notes

• The verb hight has many different forms in many different regions. For the present tense the form het is rather common. The usage example for the sense "to command or to enjoin" can be rendered in standard English in the following manner:

• I hight ye take me wi' ye. I ne can no lenger her b'live = I bid you take me with you. I can no longer stay here.

• Moreover, in the sense "to enjoin", the word is mainly used for emphasis, and as such is untranslatable into standard English. For example: I het ye leit mee men ga. 'Ey ne dyde nathing te na ane. 'Ey ar wyteless. (Please, let my men go. They did not do anything to any one. They are blameless).
• The word survives only as part of the oral tradition in rural Scotland and Northern England. It is no longer used in common speech.

Translations

Adjective

hight (not comparable)

1. (archaic) Called, named.

   Synonym: yclept

   • 1886-88, Richard F. Burton, The Supplemental Nights to the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 514:

     […] there dwelt in a city of the cities of China a man which was a tailor, withal a pauper, and he had one son, Alaeddin hight.

Translations

Etymology 2

See height

Noun

hight (plural hights)

1. Obsolete form of height.

Anagrams

• thigh

Middle English

Alternative forms

• huht, hihht, hihte, hi?te, hiht

Etymology

From Old English hyht

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hixt/
• Rhymes: -ixt

Noun

hight

1. hopefulness, expectedness
2. gladness, satisfaction

Descendants

• English: hight (obsolete)

References

• “hight, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-24.

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: w?t, IPA^(key): /wa?t/
• Rhymes: -a?t
• Homophones: wite, white (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

Etymology 1

From Middle English wight, wi?t, from Old English wiht (“wight, person, creature, being, whit, thing, something, anything”), from Proto-Germanic *wihtiz (“essence, object”), from Proto-Indo-European *wekti- (“cause, sake, thing”), from *wek?- (“to say, tell”). Cognate with Scots wicht (“creature, being, human”), Dutch wicht (“child, baby”), German Low German Wicht (“girl; wight”), German Wicht (“wretch, wight, little creature, scoundrel”), Norwegian Bokmål vette (“underground creature, gnome”), Swedish vätte (“underground creature, gnome”), Icelandic vættur (“imp, elf”). Doublet of whit.

Noun

wight (plural wights)

1. (archaic) A living creature, especially a human being.
   • Template:RQ:Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor
   • 1626, John Milton, On the Death of a Fair Infant Dying of a Cough, verse vi

     Oh say me true if thou wert mortal wight
     And why from us so quickly thou didst take thy flight.

   • c. 1872, a Knight's tour cryptotour poem, possibly by Howard Staunton, lines 1 and 2:

     "The man that hath no love of chess/Is truth to say a sorry wight."

   • 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Supplemental Nights to the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 532:

     […] Alaeddin ate and drank and was cheered and after he had rested and had recovered spirits he cried, "Ah, O my mother, I have a sore grievance against thee for leaving me to that accursed wight who strave to compass my destruction and designed to take my life. Know that I beheld Death with mine own eyes at the hand of this damned wretch, whom thou didst certify to be my uncle; […]

2. (paganism) A being of one of the Nine Worlds of Heathen belief, especially a nature spirit, elf or ancestor.
3. (poetic) A ghost, deity or other supernatural entity.
   • 1789, William Blake, A Dream, lines 14-16:

     But I saw a glow-worm near, / Who replied: ‘What wailing wight / Calls the watchman of the night?

   • 1869, William Morris and Eiríkr Magnússon (translators), Grettis Saga: The Story of Grettir the Strong, F. S. Ellis, page 49:

     Everything in their way was kicked out of place, the barrow-wight setting on with hideous eagerness; Grettir gave back before him for a long time, till at last it came to this, that he saw it would not do to hoard his strength any more; now neither spared the other, and they were brought to where the horse-bones were, and thereabout they wrestled long.

4. (fantasy) A wraith-like creature.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English wight, from Old Norse vígt, neuter of vígr (“skilled in fighting, of age”), from Proto-Germanic *w?gaz (“fighting”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyk- (“to fight”). Cognate with Old English w??.

Adjective

wight

1. (archaic, except in dialects) Brave, valorous, strong.
2. (Britain dialectal, obsolete) Strong; stout; active.

See also

• Isle of Wight

References

• “wight” in the Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, 1974 edition.

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English wiht

Alternative forms

• wighte, wygh?t, wi?t, wi?te, whi?t, whytt, whighte, wyght, why?t, wyt, wiht, wihht, whi?t, wei?tt, wy?t, wy?te, wyhte, wyte, wicht

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wixt/, /?ixt/
• Rhymes: -ixt

Noun

wight (plural wightes or wighten)

1. A creature, a being.
2. A person, a human being.
   • 1368-1372, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Book of the Duchess, line 579:

     "Worste of alle wightes."

   • 1379-1380, Geoffrey Chaucer, The House of Fame, line 1830-1831:

     "We ben shrewes, every wight,

     And han delyt in wikkednes."

3. A demon, monster
4. A small amount (of a quantity, length, distance or time); a whit.

Descendants

• English: wight, whit
• Scots: wicht

References

• “wight, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-04.

Etymology 2

From Old Norse vígt. See vígr (“ready to fight”).

Alternative forms

• wihte, wict, wi?ht, wy?te, wyght, why?t, wy?t, white, vight, wi?hte, weight, vit

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wixt/, /wikt/

Adjective

wight (comparative wighter, superlative wightest)

1. brave, bold
2. powerful, strong, vigorous
3. quick, speedy

Descendants

• English: wight (obsolete or dialectal)

References

• “wight, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-04.

Adverb

wight

1. immediately
2. vigorously

References

• “wight, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-04.