Breadth
/brɛdθ/noun
The distance from side to side; width.
Did you know?Breadth comes from the same Old English root as broad, and the ending -th is the old abstract-making suffix that turned a quality into a thing you could measure.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*bʰrewh₂-
“to swell, be thick, be broad”
Old English
OE
brǣdu
“breadth, width, extent”
Old English
OE
brād
“broad, wide”
Middle English
ME
bredthe
“breadth, width”
Modern English
English
breadth
“the distance from side to side; width”