Wordul · all words

adjective · 2 syllables · /'pɪθ.i/

PITHY

What does "PITHY" mean?

Expressing much meaning in few, well-chosen words; terse and forceful.

Meanings

  1. Concise and full of meaning; brief but substantial. Her pithy reply ended the argument in five words.
  2. Consisting of or resembling pith; full of the soft spongy tissue of a plant. The orange peeled cleanly, leaving the pithy white layer behind. technical

Word origin

From 'pith', the spongy central tissue of plants and the spinal cord, from Old English 'piþa'; the figurative sense of 'condensed force' gives the adjective its meaning of compact strength.

Remember it

PITHY hides 'pith' - the dense core of a stem - so pithy speech is all core, no padding.

A little poem

A paragraph drowns; one true line stays dry-
say less, mean more: that is to be pithy.

couplet

Wordplay

  • I tried to write a pithy essay, but it kept getting to the point.

What it teaches

Brevity is not the absence of thought but its compression; cut until only the meaning is left.

Quick facts

What does PITHY mean?

Expressing much meaning in few, well-chosen words; terse and forceful.

Is PITHY a valid word?

Yes — PITHY is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.

How many letters is PITHY?

PITHY has 5 letters and 2 syllables.

Where does PITHY come from?

From 'pith', the spongy central tissue of plants and the spinal cord, from Old English 'piþa'; the figurative sense of 'condensed force' gives the adjective its meaning of compact strength.

What can PITHY teach us?

Brevity is not the absence of thought but its compression; cut until only the meaning is left.

How players do

Be the first to solve it.

Play today's Wordul →