# blithe
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English blithe (“glad, happy, joyful; causing joy, joyous; gentle, mild; gracious, merciful; bright, shining; beautiful, fair”) [and other forms], from Old English blīþe (“happy, gentle”), from Proto-West Germanic *blīþī, from Proto-Germanic *blīþiz (“friendly; gentle, mild; pleasing”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlī- (“fine; light; pleasant”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“shiny; white”).

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA: /blaɪð/, /blaɪθ/
* Audio (Received Pronunciation):(file)
* Audio (General American):(file)
* Rhymes: -aɪð, -aɪθ

### Adjective

blithe (comparative blither, superlative blithest)
* Casually careless or indifferent; showing a lack of concern; nonchalant.
    She had a blithe disregard of cultures outside the United States.
** 1913–1921, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “England, My England”, in England My England and Other Stories, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Seltzer, published 24 October 1922, →OCLC, page 23:From mother and nurse it was a guerilla gunfire of commands, and blithe, quicksilver disobedience from the three blonde, never-still little girls.
* (chiefly Scotland, elsewhere dated or literary) Cheerful, happy.
** c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv], page 47, column 2:And now ſweet Emperour be blithe againe, And bury all thy feare in my deuiſes.
** a. 1645, John Milton, “L’Allegro”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, page 31:There on Beds of Violets blew, And freſh-blown Roſes waſht in dew, Fill'd her with thee a daughter fair, So buckſom, blith, and debonair.
** 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 610–613:For that fair femal Troop thou ſawſt, that ſeemd Of Goddeſſes, ſo blithe, ſo ſmooth, ſo gay, Yet empty of good wherein conſiſts, Womans domeſtic honour and chief praiſe; […]
** 1725, Homer, “Book I”, in [Elijah Fenton], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, page 26, lines 211–214:Shou'd he return, that troop ſo blithe and bold, With purple robes inwrought, and ſtiff with gold, Precipitant in fear, wou'd wing their flight, And curſe their cumbrous pride's unwieldy weight.
** 1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “Introduction to Canto Second: To the Rev. John Marriot, M.A.”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London: William Miller, and John Murray, →OCLC, page 63:But not more blythe than sylvan court, Than we have been at humbler sport; Though small our pomp, and mean our game, Our mirth, dear Marriot, was the same.
** 1816, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Tales of My Landlord, […], volume III (Old Mortality), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for William Blackwood, […]; London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, pages 85–86:Tarry, tarry, ye wha were aye sae blythe to be at the meetings of the saints, and wad ride every muir in Scotland to find a conventicle.
** 1820 June (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “To a Skylark”, in Prometheus Unbound […], London: C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier […], published 1820, →OCLC, stanza 1, page 201:Hail to thee, blithe spirit! Bird thou never wert, That from heaven, or near it, Pourest thy full heart In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.
** 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Five. The End of It.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 158:He looked so irresistibly pleasant, in a word, that three or four good-humoured fellows said, "Good morning, sir! A merry Christmas to you!" And Scrooge said often afterwards, that of all the blithe sounds he had ever heard, those were the blithest in his ears.
** 1876 June, Mark Twain, “The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut”, in The Atlantic‎:I was feeling blithe, almost jocund.
** 1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter III, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume I, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC, phase the first (The Maiden), page 31:To-night, however, she was even in a blither mood than usual. There was a dreaminess, a preoccupation, an exaltation, in the maternal look which the girl could not understand.

#### Alternative forms

* blythe (obsolete)

#### Derived terms

* blitheful
* blitheless
* blithely
* blithen
* blitheness
* blither (“one who makes others blithe”) (obsolete, rare)
* blithesome
* Blythe
* overblithe
* unblithe

#### Related terms

* bliss

#### Translations
### References

* ↑ “blīthe, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
* ↑ Compare “blithe, adj., n., and adv.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1887; “blithe, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

### Anagrams

* thible

## Scots
### Etymology

From Middle English blithe, from Old English blīþe, from Proto-West Germanic *blīþī, from Proto-Germanic *blīþiz. Cognate with Danish blid, Dutch blij, Icelandic blíður. Compare bliss.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /blaɪð/
* Rhymes: -aɪð

### Adjective

blithe (comparative blither, superlative blithest)
* Happy
    A howp ye haed a blithe birthdayI hope you had a happy birthday