kibe
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
Origin unknown, but first attested in Middle English.
suggested origins and context
- Attestations in Shakespeare's time seem to suggest it was intended as mildly vulgar (compare zit) and metaphorical; see more at this Open Literature article.
- Compare Welsh cibi, cibwst (“chilblain(s)”), although this itself may borrow from Middle English, and we may be dealing with some ancient unknown term.
- Assuming the origin English or Welsh derived from is pre-Celtic, some have suggested a link to an Old European word from a British Vasconic substrate, in this case related to Basque gibiztin (“knot, bow”), compounded from a lost root *gibi, *kibi (“lump?”). If this is so, it could be distantly related to Latin gibbus (“hump”).
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
kibe (plural kibes)
- (rare, archaic, now poetic or dialectal) A chilblain (often ulcerated), especially on the heel of the foot (also afflictive to some animals).
- c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
- By the Lord, Horatio, this three years I have took note of it, the age is grown so picked that the toe of the peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier he galls his kibe.
AnagramsEdit
HungarianEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
PronounEdit
kibe
PortugueseEdit
NounEdit
kibe m (plural kibes)
- Alternative spelling of quibe