different between sigh vs thigh

English

Etymology

From Middle English sihen, from Old English s?can. (The OE infinitive would have given ME forms with /t?/ or /k/, which are both attested, so the /h/ form is probably a back-formation from the preterite sihte.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sa?/
• Rhymes: -a?
• Homophones: sie, sai, psi, xi, scye, Si, Sy, Cy

Verb

sigh (third-person singular simple present sighs, present participle sighing, simple past and past participle sighed)

1. (intransitive) To inhale a larger quantity of air than usual, and immediately expel it; to make a deep single audible respiration, especially as the result or involuntary expression of fatigue, exhaustion, grief, sorrow, frustration, or the like.

2. (intransitive) To lament; to grieve.

   • He sighed deeply in his spirit.

3. (intransitive, transitive) To utter sighs over; to lament or mourn over.
   • 1695, Matthew Prior, An ode presented to the king, on His Majesty's arrival in Holland, after the Queen's death

     Ages to come, and men unborn, / Shall bless her name, and sigh her fate.

4. (intransitive) To experience an emotion associated with sighing.

5. (intransitive) To make a sound like sighing.
   • 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

     And the coming wind did roar more loud, / And the sails did sigh like sedge.

   • ?, Alfred Tennyson, The Death of the Old Year

     The winter winds are wearily sighing.

6. (transitive) To exhale (the breath) in sighs.
7. (transitive) To express by sighs; to utter in or with sighs.
   • 1763, John Hoole (translator), Jerusalem Delivered (by Torquato Tasso

     The gentle swain […] sighs back her grief.

Synonyms

• (all): sithe (obsolete)

Translations

Noun

sigh (plural sighs)

1. A deep, prolonged audible inhale and exhale of breath; as when fatigued, frustrated, grieved, or relieved; the act of sighing.
   • 1913, Eleanor Porter, Pollyanna, Chapter 7:

     To Pollyanna the air was all the more stifling after that cool breath of the out of doors; but she did not complain. She only drew a long quivering sigh.

2. Figuratively, a manifestation of grief; a lament.
3. (Cockney rhyming slang) A person who is bored.

Derived terms

• yawn-sigh

Translations

Interjection

sigh

1. An expression of fatigue, exhaustion, grief, sorrow, frustration, or the like, often used in casual written contexts.

   Sigh, I'm so bored at work today.

Translations

Anagrams

• Gish, gish

English

Etymology

From Middle English thigh, thegh, thi?, the?he, þigh, þy?h, from Old English þ?oh, þ?oh, from Proto-Germanic *þeuh? (compare West Frisian tsjea, Dutch dij, Middle High German diech, Icelandic þjó), from Proto-Indo-European *tewk- (compare Irish tóin (“hind, rump”), Lithuanian táukas (“fat”), Russian ??? (tuk, “animal fat”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?a?/
• Rhymes: -a?

Noun

thigh (plural thighs)

1. The upper leg of a human, between the hip and the knee. [from 8th c.]
   • c. 1595, William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet:

     I coniure thee by Rosalines bright eyes, By her High forehead, and her Scarlet lip, By her Fine foote, Straight leg, and Quiuering thigh, And the Demeanes, that there Adiacent lie, That in thy likenesse thou appeare to vs.

   • 1800, Jane Austen, letter, 8 Nov 1800:

     About ten days ago, in cocking a pistol in the guard-room at Marcau, he accidentally shot himself through the Thigh.

   • 1991, Kathy Lette, The Llama Parlour:

     ‘Why not pay up now, kiddo?’ he suggested magnanimously, patting me on the thigh.

   • 2011, The Guardian, 31 Mar 2011:

     The 23-year-old was substituted in the 75th minute of France's goalless friendly draw with Croatia on Tuesday after suffering an injury to his thigh.

2. That part of the leg of vertebrates (or sometimes other animals) which corresponds to the human thigh in position or function; the tibia of a horse, the tarsus of a bird; the third leg-section of an insect. [from 14th c.]
   • 2009, Fred Thompson, Grillin' with Gas:

     Add the chicken thighs, close the bag, and squish the marinade to coat the chicken.

   • 2011, Ian Sample, The Guardian, 23 Feb 2011:

     The newly discovered dinosaur Brontomerus mcintoshi may have used its huge muscular thighs to kick predators and rivals.

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• Hight, hight

Irish

Pronunciation

• (Munster) IPA^(key): /h??/
• (Connacht, Ulster) IPA^(key): /hi?/

Noun

thigh

1. Lenited form of tigh.

Middle English

Noun

thigh (plural thighes)

1. Alternative spelling of þigh (“thigh”)