# depth

> English word · Noun · IPA /dɛpθ/ · frequency rank #2,725

## Definitions
1. the vertical distance below a surface; the degree to which something is deep
2. the distance between the front and the back, as the depth of a drawer or closet
3. the intensity, complexity, strength, seriousness or importance of an emotion, situation, etc.
4. lowness
5. the total palette of available colors
6. the property of appearing three-dimensional
7. the deepest part (usually of a body of water)
8. a very remote part.
9. the most severe part
10. the number of simple elements which an abstract conception or notion includes; the comprehension or content
11. a pair of toothed wheels which work together
12. the perpendicular distance from the chord to the farthest point of an arched surface
13. the lower of the two ranks of a value in an ordered set of values
14. A set of more than one ciphertext enciphered with the same key.
15. An invariant of rings and modules, encoding information about dimensionality; see Depth (ring theory).

## Etymology
From Middle English depthe, from Old English *dīepþ (“depth”), from Proto-Germanic *diupiþō (“depth”), equivalent to deep + -th (abstract nominal suffix).
Cognates
Cognate with Scots deepth (“depth”), Saterland Frisian Djüpte (“depth”), West Frisian djipte (“depth; abyss, chasm”), Dutch diepte (“depth”), German Low German, Limburgish Deepde (“depth”), Luxembourgish Déift (“depth”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål dybde (“depth”), Faroese dýpd (“depth”), Icelandic djúp, dýpi, dýpt (“depth”), Norwegian Nynorsk djup, djupn, djupt, dypt (“depth”), Swedish djup (“depth”), Gothic 𐌳𐌹𐌿𐍀𐌹𐌸𐌰 (diupiþa, “depth”).

## Easily confused with
- **doth** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/depth-vs-doth)
- **deputy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/depth-vs-deputy)
- **depths** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/depth-vs-depths)
- **dep** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dep-vs-depth)
- **debt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/debt-vs-depth)
- **dent** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dent-vs-depth)
- **deft** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/deft-vs-depth)
- **death** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/death-vs-depth)
- **delta** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/delta-vs-depth)
- **debts** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/debts-vs-depth)
- **depot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/depot-vs-depth)
- **deity** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/deity-vs-depth)
- **Darth** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/darth-vs-depth)
- **dents** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dents-vs-depth)
- **deaths** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/deaths-vs-depth)
- **dearth** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dearth-vs-depth)

## Common misspellings (8)
`ddepth`, `depht`, `deppth`, `depthh`, `deptth`, `detph`, `dpeth`, `edpth`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/depth