lither
/ˈlɪðə/
"lither" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lither” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Lazy, slothful; listless.
Corpus desk
Index EN-lither · lither · English
lither · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "L" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | lither |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈlɪðə/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “lither” in English
Rare enough to double-check
lither is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈlɪðə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for lither in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English lither, lyther (“deceitful; evil; false; treacherous; sinful, wicked; leading to cruelty, injustice, or wickedness, perverted; of a country: filled with wicked people; cruel, fierce; dangerous, deadly; frightening; grievous, painful; har… The correct English form is lither, spelled L-I-T-H-E-R.
Definition
- 1Lazy, slothful; listless.
- 2Flexible, supple; also, agile, lithe.
- 3Bad, evil; false.
- 4In poor physical condition.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how lither appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
After the same manner a Monk (I mean those lither, idle, lazie Monks) doth not labour and work, as do the Peasant and Artificer: doth not ward and defend the countrey, as doth the man of warre: cureth not the sick and diseased, as the Physician doth: doth neither preach nor teach, as do the Evangelical Doctors and Schoolmasters: doth not import commoditie…
"It is thine own laziness, thou false English blood, that doest nothing but drink and sleep," retorted the page, "and leaves that lither lad to do the work, that he minds as little as thou."
Etymology
From Middle English lither, lyther (“deceitful; evil; false; treacherous; sinful, wicked; leading to cruelty, injustice, or wickedness, perverted; of a country: filled with wicked people; cruel, fierce; dangerous, deadly; frightening; grievous, painful; harmful, injurious; miserable, paltry, poor, worthless; feeble, sluggish; cowardly”) [and other forms], from Old English lȳþre (“bad, wicked; base, mean, wretched; corrupt”) [and other forms], from Proto-Germanic *lūþrijaz (“bad; dissolute; neglected; useless”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)lew- (“limp, slack”). Sense 1.2 (“flexible, supple; agile, lithe”) is influenced by lithe. Cognates Dutch lodder (“wanton person”), loddering (“drowsy; trifling; wanton”) German liederlich (“dissolute”), German lotterig (“slovenly”), lüderlich (“slovenly”) Old English loþrung (“delusion, rubbish, nonsense”), loddere (“beggar”)
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.