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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

earth.

Soil.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ɜːθ/Received-Pronunciation/ɝθ/Canada, General-American/ɵːθ/New-Zealand/ɜθ/
  1. Soil.

    uncountable
    This is good earth for growing potatoes.
  2. Any general rock-based material.

    uncountable
    She sighed when the plane's wheels finally touched earth.
  3. The ground, land (as opposed to the sky or sea).

    countable · uncountable
    Birds are of the sky, not of the earth.
  4. A connection electrically to the earth ((US) ground); on equipment: a terminal connected in that manner.

    UK · countable · uncountable
  5. The lair or den (as a hole in the ground, or a system of tunnels) of an animal, such as a badger.

    countable · uncountable
  6. A region of the planet; a land or country.

    countable · uncountable
  7. Worldly things, as against spiritual ones.

    countable · uncountable
  8. The world of our current life (as opposed to heaven or an afterlife).

    countable · uncountable
  9. The people on the globe.

    countable · metonymically · uncountable
  10. Any planet similar to the Earth (our earth): an exoplanet viewed as another earth, or a potential one.

    countable · uncountable
    New space telescopes may accelerate the search for other earths that may be out there.
  11. The human body.

    archaic · countable · uncountable
  12. The aforementioned soil- or rock-based material, considered one of the four or five classical elements.

    countable · uncountable
  13. Any of certain substances now known to be oxides of metal, which were distinguished by being infusible, and by insolubility in water.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
Where this word comes from

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.

verb/ɜːθ/Received-Pronunciation/ɝθ/Canada, General-American/ɵːθ/New-Zealand/ɜθ/
  1. To connect electrically to the earth.

    UK · transitive
    That noise is because the amplifier is not properly earthed.
  2. To bury.

    transitive
  3. To hide, or cause to hide, in the earth; to chase into a burrow or den.

    transitive
  4. To burrow.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

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.

name/ɜːθ/Received-Pronunciation/ɝθ/Canada, General-American/ɵːθ/New-Zealand/ɜθ/
  1. Alternative letter-case form of Earth (“the third planet of the Solar System, upon which humans live”).

    alt-of
    The astronauts saw the earth from the porthole.
Where this word comes from

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.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.