different between wrath vs wroth

English

Etymology

From Middle English wraththe, wreththe, from Old English wr?þþu (“wrath, fury”), from Proto-West Germanic *wraiþiþu (“wrath, fury”), equivalent to wroth +? -th. Compare Dutch wreedte (“cruelty”), Danish vrede (“anger”), Swedish vrede (“wrath, anger, ire”), Icelandic reiði (“anger”). More at wroth.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???/, /????/
  • Rhymes: -??, -???
  • Homophone: wroth (some speakers)
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?æ?/
  • Rhymes: -æ?
• (General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /?æ?/, /???/

Noun

wrath (usually uncountable, plural wraths)

1. (formal or old-fashioned) Great anger.

   Synonyms: fury, ire
2. (rare) Punishment.

Usage notes

• The pronunciation with the vowel /æ/ is regarded as incorrect by many British English speakers.

Derived terms

• grapes of wrath
• wrathful

Related terms

• wroth

Translations

Adjective

wrath (comparative more wrath, superlative most wrath)

1. (rare) Wrathful; wroth; very angry.

Verb

wrath (third-person singular simple present wraths, present participle wrathing, simple past and past participle wrathed)

1. (obsolete) To anger; to enrage.
   • (Can we find and add a quotation of Chaucer to this entry?)
   • (Can we find and add a quotation of Piers Plowman to this entry?)

Further reading

• “wrath” in the Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Anagrams

• Warth, warth

English

Etymology

From Middle English wroth, wrooth, from Old English wr?þ, from Proto-Germanic *wraiþaz (“cruel”), from Proto-Indo-European *wreyt- (“to turn”). Akin to Saterland Frisian wreed (“haughty; proud”), Old Saxon wr?d (“evil”) (Dutch wreed (“cruel”)), Old High German reid (“cruel”), Old Norse reiðr (“angry”) (Danish vred, Swedish vred).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /????/
• (UK, alternatively) IPA^(key): /???/
  • Homophone: wrath
• (General American) IPA^(key): /???/
• (US, cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /???/

Adjective

wroth (comparative more wroth, superlative most wroth)

1. Full of anger; wrathful.
   • 1793, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Christabel

     And to be wroth with one we love,

     Doth work like madness in the brain.

   • 1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, Chapter V

     But in the meantime Robin Hood and his band lived quietly in Sherwood Forest, without showing their faces abroad, for Robin knew that it would not be wise for him to be seen in the neighborhood of Nottingham, those in authority being very wroth with him.

   • 1936, Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People, Part 3, Chapter 4

     Business men are learning that it pays to be friendly to strikers. For example, when two thousand five hundred employees in the White Motor Company's plant struck for higher wages and a union shop, Robert F. Black, the president, didn't wax wroth and condemn, and threaten and talk of tyranny and Communists. He actually praised the strikers. He published an advertisement in the Cleveland papers, complimenting them on "the peaceful way in which they laid down their tools."

Synonyms

• wrath (rare)
• wrathful

Related terms

• wrath

Translations

References

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

Anagrams

• -worth, Worth, throw, whort, worth

Middle English

Alternative forms

• wrooth, wroþ

Etymology

From Old English wr?þ, from Proto-Germanic *wraiþaz (“cruel”), from Proto-Indo-European *wreyt- (“to turn”).

Adjective

wroth

1. Wrathful, wroth.