kith

From Middle English kith (“kinsmen, relations”),^[1] from Old English cȳþþ, cȳþþu (“kinship, kinsfolk, relations”), from Proto-Germanic *kunþiþō (“knowledge, acquaintance”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”). Cognate with Old High German kundida (“kith”), kundī (“knowledge”), Gothic 𐌺𐌿𐌽𐌸𐌹 (kunþi, “knowledge”). More at couth, -th.

• IPA^(key): /kɪθ/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

  Rhymes: -ɪθ

kith (usually uncountable, plural kiths)

1. (archaic or obsolete, uncountable) Friends and acquaintances.
   • 1843, Edward Bulwer[-]Lytton, The Last of the Barons, London; New York, N.Y.: George Routledge and Sons […], →OCLC:

     Alack, would that Edward listened more to me and less to the queen’s kith! These Woodvilles!

   • 2000 August 3, Michael Kelly, “New Hope For Nice Guys”, in Orlando Sentinel‎^[2], archived from the original on 18 June 2013:

     The demography-crossing thing that undergirds this election year, I think, is a strong, broad desire to punish Clinton and his kith with a denial of further power.

2. (Northern England, Scotland, rustic, countable) An acquaintance or a friend.

• See Thesaurus:friend or Thesaurus:acquaintance

• kith and kin
• kith and kine
• kithfolk
• kithless

• kin
• kinfolk

Variant of kic (“I bite”).

kith m

1. veil of mystery
2. fog covering the tops of mountains

• kic

• (Early ME) cyððe, cuððe, cuþþe, kuþþe
• kyth, kiþ, kiþþe, kythe, kuythe, kiththe, kyþe

From Old English cȳþþ, cȳþþu, from Proto-Germanic *kunþiþō.

• IPA^(key): /kiθ/, /ˈkið(ə)/, /kuθ/, /ˈkuð(ə)/

kith (plural kithes)

1. One's motherland or birthplace; the region or territory where one belongs
2. One's kin, ethnicity, or lineage; the people one belongs to.
3. One's descendant; a person from one's line.
4. Relation; connection by blood, heritage.
5. (rare) learning, facts
6. (rare) tradition, good manners.
7. (rare) The state of knowing someone.

• English: kith
• Scots: kith, kyth, kythe

• “kitthe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-22.