ethe

English

Etymology 1

From the Ancient Greek ἤθη (ḗthē), the contracted nominative plural form of ἦθος (êthos).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈiːθiː/

Noun

ethe

1. plural of ethos
   • 1892, Bernhard Bosanquet, A History of Aesthetic, page 72:

     And it is a further proof of our view, that beginners in poetry attain completeness in expression and ethe [plural of ethos], before they are capable of composing the march of incidents; almost all the earliest poets are instances of this.

   • 1942, Journal of Legal and Political Sociology, International Universities Press, page 85:

     The relation between social groups and their ethe is rational; they vary in fixed ratios.

   • 2003, Patchen Markell, Bound by Recognition, page 76:

     […] it makes sense to say that these speeches are representations of their ethe.

Etymology 2

See eath.

Adjective

ethe (comparative more ethe, superlative most ethe)

1. (obsolete) easy
   • 1579, Edmund Spenser, “The Shepheardes Calender”, in The Poetical Works of Edmund Spenser, Volume 4, Charles C. Little and James Brown, published 1839, page 330:

     Hereto, the hilles bene nigher heaven, / And thence the passage ethe; / As well can proove the piercing levin, / That seldome falles beneath.

Anagrams

• Thee, the'e, thee