pith

Meanings

Noun

• The soft, spongy substance in the center of the stems of many plants and trees.
• The spongy interior substance of a feather or horn.
• The spinal cord; the marrow.
• The albedo of a citrus fruit.
• The essential or vital part; force; energy; importance.
• Power, strength, might.
• One divided by pi.

Verb

• To extract the pith from (a plant stem or tree).
• To kill (especially cattle or laboratory animals) by cutting or piercing the spinal cord.

Adjective

• The ordinal form of the number pi.

Origin

• From Middle English pith, pithe, from Old English piþa, from Proto-Germanic *piþô (compare West Frisian piid ("pulp, kernel"), Dutch peen ("carrot"), Low German Peddik ("pulp, core")), from earlier *piþō (oblique *pittan). Doublet of pit. The verb meaning "to kill by cutting or piercing the spinal cord" is attested 1805.
• From pi + -th.