davit
/ˈdeɪvɪt/noun
davit is spelled D-A-V-I-T: 5 letters. It appears about once in every 13 million words in written English, the 107,757th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, davit means “A spar formerly used on board of ships, as a crane to hoist the flukes of the anchor to the top of the bow, without injuring the sides of the ship” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of davit is davits.
How many letters and syllables are in davit?
| Letters | 5: D-A-V-I-T |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 13 million words; the 107,757th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is davit?
Davit appears about once in every 13 million words in written English, the 107,757th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce davit?
- /ˈdeɪvɪt/
- /ˈdævət/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-davit.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of davit
- davits plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does davit mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A spar formerly used on board of ships, as a crane to hoist the flukes of the anchor to the top of the bow, without injuring the sides of the ship.
- 2
A crane, often working in pairs and usually made of steel, used to lower things over an edge of a long drop off, such as lowering a maintenance trapeze down a building or launching a lifeboat over the side of a ship.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Davit in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense crane to sling a lifeboat, maintenance trapeze etc:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does davit come from?
The word davit is derived from Middle English and Old French daviot, which is a diminutive of David; thus it means "little David", maybe because those small cranes can handle a much bigger lifeboat.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).