English Explanatory Dictionary

earth

English dictionary entry

Meanings

name
  1. Alternative letter-case form of Earth; our planet, third out from the Sun.
noun
  1. Soil.
  2. Any general rock-based material.
  3. The ground, land (as opposed to the sky or sea).
  4. A connection electrically to the earth ((US) ground); on equipment: a terminal connected in that manner.
  5. The lair or den (as a hole in the ground) of an animal such as a fox.
  6. A region of the planet; a land or country.
  7. Worldly things, as against spiritual ones.
  8. The world of our current life (as opposed to heaven or an afterlife).
  9. The people on the globe.
  10. Any planet similar to the Earth (our earth): an exoplanet viewed as another earth, or a potential one.
  11. The human body.
  12. The aforementioned soil- or rock-based material, considered one of the four or five classical elements.
verb
  1. To connect electrically to the earth.
  2. To bury.
  3. To hide, or cause to hide, in the earth; to chase into a burrow or den.
  4. To burrow.
name
  1. The third planet of the Solar System; the world upon which humans live.
  2. The personification of the Earth or earth, (chiefly) as a fertile woman or (religion) goddess.

Pronunciation

/ɜːθ/ En-uk-earth.ogg /ɝθ/ en-us-earth.ogg /ɵːθ/ /ɜθ/ /ɛrθ/ /ɛːrθ/ En-Earth.ogg

Word forms

earth airth erd yearth earths earthing earthed

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁er-der. Proto-Germanic *erþō Proto-West Germanic *erþu Old English eorþe Middle English erthe English earth From Middle English erthe, from Old English eorþe, from Proto-West Germanic *erþu, from Proto-Germanic *erþō (“dirt, ground, earth”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁érteh₂ (“earth”). Cognates Cognate with Scots erd, yerd, yird, yirth (“earth, loam, mould, soil; ground”), Yola eard, eart, eord, eorth, erth (“earth”), North Frisian eerd, eerde, iarde, Iart, iir, jard, örd, Öört (“earth; world”), Saterland Frisian Idde, Äid, Äide (“earth; soil; ground”), West Frisian ierde (“earth; soil; ground”), Alemannic German Ëërde (“earth”), Bavarian Erd, Erdn (“world; soil; ground”), Central Franconian Ääd (“earth”), Cimbrian èerda (“earth”), Dutch aard, aarde (“earth”), German Erde (“earth; soil; ground; world”), German Low German Eer (“earth”), Limburgish eerd (“earth”), Luxembourgish Äerd (“earth; soil”), Vilamovian Ād (“earth”), Yiddish ערד (erd, “earth; soil”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish jord (“earth”), Faroese jørð (“earth”), Icelandic jörð (“earth”), Norn yurn (“the earth”), Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌸𐌰 (airþa, “earth”); also Latin ōra (“border, edge, rim”), Breton erv (“ridge between furrows”), Welsh erw (“acre”), Ancient Greek ἔραζε (éraze, “to the ground”), Lithuanian erdvė (“expanse, space”), Albanian varr, vorr (“grave”), Tocharian B āre (“dust, loose earth”), Sanskrit उर्वरा (urvarā, “fertile soil, field yielding crops”), Hittite 𒅕𒄩𒀸 (er-ḫa-aš /⁠erḫaš⁠/, “border, boundary, line”). Probably unrelated, but of unknown etymology, is Old Armenian երկիր (erkir, “earth”). Likewise, the phonologically similar Proto-Semitic *ʔarṣ́- – whence Arabic أَرْض (ʔarḍ), Hebrew אֶרֶץ (ʾereṣ) – is probably unrelated.

Synonyms

ground the Blue Planet the globe God's green earth Sol III Terra the world Middle Earth Midgard Mother Earth for female forms Earth world

Related words

wychert yedding moon sun world ♁ 🜨 earth science geology geography inhabitant Earthling

Derived words

Adamic earth Adam's earth alkaline earth alkaline-earth alkaline earth metal alkaline-earth metal anti-earth antiearth black earth Blue Earth Blue Earth County Blue Earth River bog earth bone earth Chian earth Cologne earth come down to earth cost the earth counter-earth dark earth dhobi's earth diatomaceous earth down-to-earth down to earth Eartha earth almond earth-apple earthapple earth art earthbag earthball earth ball earthbank earth bath earth-bathing earthberg earthberry earth-berry earthboard earthborn earth-born earthbound earth-bound earthbred earth-chestnut earth chestnut earth closet earthcreeper Earth Day earthdin earth-diver earth divinity earth dog earth-drake earthdrake eartheater earthen earthen mound earthenware earther
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