What does eth mean?
Eth is the name of the letter ð, a character that entered the Latin-based alphabet of Old English to represent the voiced dental fricative sound heard at the start of words like "this" and "breathe." Alongside its sibling letter thorn (þ), eth served as one of two distinct symbols English once used for "th" sounds; scribes eventually settled on the two-letter digraph "th," and eth faded from English use during the Middle English period. The letter survives today in Icelandic, where it is a fully standard part of the alphabet, pronounced as the soft, buzzing "th" of "mother." For students of linguistics and medieval literature, recognizing eth is essential to reading Old and early Middle English texts accurately. Though rare in everyday modern writing, the letter offers a fascinating glimpse into how alphabets evolve — and how sounds once given their own symbols can end up spelled several different ways.
noun"Eth" is the name of the letter ð (capital Ð), a character used in Old English and still used in Icelandic to represent the voiced dental fricative sound heard in "this" and "that." It can also refer to this same letter when it appeared as an inflectional ending in early English.
- The letter ð of the Old English runic-derived alphabet and modern Icelandic orthography, representing the voiced dental fricative /ð/ as in "this."
- The character ð as it appeared in Middle English manuscripts, where it was gradually replaced by "th" in printing.
"In Icelandic, the word "norður" is written with an eth rather than a plain d."
"Students learning Old English quickly become familiar with reading eth alongside thorn."
"Icelandic printers still cast eth as a distinct letter, sorting it after d in the alphabet."
A regular plural, used when referring to multiple instances of the letter.
"The scribe's hand shows two different forms of eths on the same page."
The eth (ð) survived the Norman Conquest's overhaul of English spelling only in Iceland — but it lives on in English every time you type "the," hiding invisibly inside the most common word in the language.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of eth
The word "eth" derives from Old English "eð" (or "edh"), the native name given to the letter ð when Irish-influenced scribes adapted the Latin alphabet to write English, borrowing the letter form from the runic alphabet's "d"-like rune. The letter served Old and early Middle English before yielding to the digraph "th" in the late medieval period. Its closest living relative is Icelandic "eð," the name still used for the same letter in the modern Icelandic alphabet.
How eth is actually used
The word "eth" is primarily encountered in academic contexts — linguistics, paleography, and the study of Germanic languages. Do not confuse the noun "eth" (the letter) with the verbal ending "-eth" of Early Modern English, as in "he goeth," which is a separate morphological usage.
Easily confused with eth
Theta (θ) is the Greek letter for the voiceless "th" sound in "think," whereas eth (ð) is a Latin-alphabet letter for the voiced "th" sound in "this."
Thorn (þ) was the other Old English "th" letter, representing both voiced and voiceless sounds, while eth (ð) came to be used chiefly for the voiced variety.