Width

How to spell width

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce width

What does width mean?

1. nounThe measurement of something from one side to the other; how broad it is.

Width in a sentence

• The carpenter measured the width of the doorway before fitting the frame.

• The width of the river doubles after heavy rain.

Where does width come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Width is a relatively young English word, first recorded in the early 1600s. It was built on the native Old English adjective 'wid', meaning broad or extending far, by adding the suffix '-th', the same quality-forming ending that turns 'long' into 'length', 'deep' into 'depth', and 'strong' into 'strength'. Before width caught on, English speakers used 'wideness' or 'breadth' to express the same idea, and width gradually overtook those older forms. The whole '-th' family descends from a shared Germanic pattern for turning adjectives into abstract nouns, which is why these words cluster together so neatly. The spelling trap lies in that silent middle: the 'd' of 'wide' survives in writing even though the vowel shortens, so the word reads 'wid-th' rather than the way it sounds, and the 'd' is easy to drop.

How the word is built

• wid- (from wide)
• -th (noun-forming suffix denoting a quality or state)