Wordwyrt

lent

/ˈlent/LENT
/ˈlɛnt/LENT

Meaningspringtime

Common meaning: the forty days before Easter

Journey through time

  1. Old Englishlencten‘the spring’sourceB&T
  2. Middle Englishlentensource
  3. Englishmeaning shiftsthe spring → the forty days before Easterlent‘the forty days before Easter’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Old English lencten ‘springtime’.

Did you know (Lent began as…): our wording, based on Skeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), entry LENT, p. 329 · dictionary scan

Did you know (Lent is simply…): our wording, based on Skeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), entry LENT, p. 329 · dictionary scan; Bosworth & Toller, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (1898), entry lencten, p. 629 · dictionary scan

Roots

  • lencten Old English “springtime”

Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app