Standard Lemma guide

pithy

adj · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈpɪθi/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɪθi
  • CMU ARPABET: P IH1 TH IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Concise and meaningful.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Of, like, or abounding in pith; spongy or having small holes or pits.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 1863, Theodore Winthrop, “The Heart of the Andes”, Part 2 – Introduction, published posthumously in Life in the Open Air and other papers, Must we know the torrid zone only through travelled bananas, plucked too soon and pithy? or by bottled anacondas? or by the tarry-flavored slang of forecastle-bred paroquets?
  • 1910, Liberty Hyde Bailey, Manual of Gardening, Suggestions and Reminders I: For the North, April, Parsnip.—Dig the roots before they grow and become soft and pithy.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Vigorous, powerful, strong; substantial.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Scotland, archaic

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adjective satellite

Meaning 4

concise and full of meaning- Hervey Allen

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • welcomed her pithy comments
  • the peculiarly sardonic and sententious style in which Don Luis composed his epigrams

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: sententious

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English pithy, pythy, equivalent to pith + -y.

Across languages

Translations

47 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: съдържателен (sǎdǎržatelen) — concise and meaningful
  • Chinese Mandarin: 精闢 /精辟 (jīngpì) — concise and meaningful
  • Czech: výstižný — concise and meaningful
  • Czech: jadrný — concise and meaningful
  • Czech: trefný — concise and meaningful
  • Czech: pregnantní — concise and meaningful
  • Dutch: kernachtig — concise and meaningful
  • Dutch: beknopt — concise and meaningful
  • Dutch: bondig — concise and meaningful
  • Finnish: ytimekäs — concise and meaningful
  • French: bref — concise and meaningful
  • French: concis — concise and meaningful
  • French: laconique — concise and meaningful
  • French: sommaire — concise and meaningful
  • French: succinct — concise and meaningful
  • German: kernig — concise and meaningful
  • German: knackig — concise and meaningful
  • German: markig — concise and meaningful
  • German: prägnant — concise and meaningful
  • Hungarian: velős — concise and meaningful
  • Lithuanian: glaustas — concise and meaningful
  • Macedonian: содр́жаен (sodŕžaen) — concise and meaningful
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: ordhag — concise and meaningful
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: kjernefull — concise and meaningful
  • Polish: zwięzły — concise and meaningful
  • Portuguese: conciso — concise and meaningful
  • Portuguese: sentencioso — concise and meaningful
  • Portuguese: lacónico — concise and meaningful
  • Portuguese: sucinto — concise and meaningful
  • Portuguese: incisivo — concise and meaningful
  • Romanian: concis — concise and meaningful
  • Romanian: laconic — concise and meaningful
  • Romanian: succint — concise and meaningful
  • Russian: ёмкий (jómkij) — concise and meaningful
  • Russian: сжатый (sžatyj) — concise and meaningful
  • Spanish: conciso — concise and meaningful
  • Spanish: lacónico — concise and meaningful
  • Spanish: lapidario — concise and meaningful
  • Spanish: incisivo — concise and meaningful
  • Spanish: sucinto — concise and meaningful
  • Swedish: kärnfull — concise and meaningful
  • Turkish: veciz — concise and meaningful
  • Ottoman Turkish: وجیز (veciz) — concise and meaningful
  • Dutch: mergachtig — of, like, or abounding in pith
  • Dutch: rijk aan merg — of, like, or abounding in pith
  • French: moelleux — of, like, or abounding in pith
  • Swedish: kärnfull — of, like, or abounding in pith