eth
/ɛð/noun
eth is spelled E-T-H: 3 letters. It appears 1.6 times per million words in written English, the 22,073rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Eth, the name). As a noun, eth means “A letter (capital Ð, small ð) introduced into Old English to represent its dental fricative, then not distinguished from the letter thorn, no longer…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of eth is eths.
How many letters and syllables are in eth?
| Letters | 3: E-T-H |
|---|---|
| In writing | 1.6 times per million words; the 22,073rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is eth?
Eth appears 1.6 times per million words in written English, the 22,073rd most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Eth, the name.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce eth?
- /ɛð/
- /ɛθ/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-eth.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl--eth.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with eth?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as eth.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: the, het.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of eth
- eths plural
- edh
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does eth mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A letter (capital Ð, small ð) introduced into Old English to represent its dental fricative, then not distinguished from the letter thorn, no longer used in English but still in modern use in Icelandic, the IPA and other phonetic alphabets to represent the voiced dental fricative "th" sound as in the English word then. The letter is also used in Faroese, but is generally silent in that language.
noun
- 1
UKInitialism of electric train heat/heating.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Eth in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense letter:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | Eth |
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 eth come from?
The sound /ɛ/ followed by the sound of the letter, by analogy with other letter names, such as those of f, l, and m.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).