Fathom Definition
(by extension) Mental reach or scope; penetration; the extent of capacity; depth of thought or contrivance.
- fthm
(archaic) To encircle with outstretched arms, especially to take a measurement; to embrace.
- not get
- misunderstand
Origin of Fathom
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From Middle English fathome, fadome, from Old English fæþm, fæþme (“outstretched or encircling arms, embrace, grasp, protection, interior, bosom, lap, breast, womb, fathom, cubit, power, expanse, surface”), from Proto-Germanic *faþmaz (“embrace”), from Proto-Indo-European *pet- (“to spread out, extend”). Cognate with Low German fadem, faem (“a cubit, thread”), Dutch vadem, vaam (“fathom”), German Faden (“thread, filament, fathom”), Danish favn (“embrace, fathom”), Swedish famn (“the arms, bosom, embrace”), Icelandic faðmur (“embrace”).
From Wiktionary
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Middle English fathme from Old English fæthm outstretched arms petə- in Indo-European roots
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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