# scythe

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈsaɪð/ · frequency rank #38,152

## Definitions
1. An instrument for mowing grass, grain, etc. by hand, composed of a long, curving blade with a sharp concave edge, fastened to a long handle called a snath.
2. A scythe-shaped blade attached to ancient war chariots.
3. The tenth Lenormand card.

## Etymology
From Middle English sythe, sithe, from Old English sīþe, sīgþe, sigdi (“sickle”), from Proto-West Germanic *sigiþi, from Proto-Germanic *sigiþiz, *sigiþō, derived from *seg- (“saw”), from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”).
Immediate Germanic cognates include Middle Low German sēgede, Dutch zicht, Icelandic sigð (all “sickle”). More distantly related with Dutch zeis, German Sense (both “scythe”). Also akin to English saw, which see.
The silent c crept in during the early 15th century owing to folk-etymological association with Medieval Latin scissor (“tailor, carver”), from Latin scindō (“to cut, rend, split”).
The verb, which was first used in the intransitive sense, is from the noun.

## Easily confused with
- **Smyth** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scythe-vs-smyth)
- **soothe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scythe-vs-soothe)
- **Smythe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scythe-vs-smythe)

## Common misspellings (10)
`csythe`, `sccythe`, `sctyhe`, `scyhte`, `scyteh`, `scythhe`, `scytthe`, `scyythe`, `sscythe`, `sycthe`

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