tithe

(noun)

The definition of a tithe is a tax, a small collection, or a tenth of your income given to a church.

(noun)

  1. An example of a tithe is an offering given at a service.
  2. An example of a tithe is a promised pledge given to a Methodist church.

To tithe means to pay an offering or a tax.

(verb)

An example of tithe is to give a portion of your earnings each month to your church.

YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2013 by LoveToKnow Corp.

See tithe in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

  1. one tenth of the annual produce of one's land or of one's annual income, paid as a tax or contribution to support a church or its clergy
    1. a tenth part
    2. any small part
  2. any tax or levy

Origin: ME < OE teothe, contr. < teogotha, a tenth

transitive verb tithed, tithing

  1. to pay a tithe of (one's produce, income, etc.)
  2. to levy a tithe on or collect a tithe from

Origin: ME tithen < OE teothian < the n.

intransitive verb

to pay a tithe

Related Forms:

See tithe in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun
  1. a. A tenth part of one's annual income contributed voluntarily or due as a tax, especially for the support of the clergy or church.
    b. The institution or obligation of paying tithes.
  2. A tax or assessment of one tenth.
  3. a. A tenth part.
    b. A very small part.
verb tithed tithed, tith·ing, tithes
verb, transitive
  1. To contribute or pay a tenth part of (one's annual income).
  2. To levy a tithe on.
verb, intransitive
To pay a tithe.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English

Origin: , from Old English tēotha; see dekm̥ in Indo-European roots

.

Related Forms:

  • tithˈa·ble (tīˈÞə-bəl) adjective
  • tithˈer noun
Word History: A tithe is a tenth, etymologically speaking; in fact, tithe is the old ordinal numeral in English. Sound changes in the prehistory of English are responsible for its looking so different from the word ten. Tithe goes back to a prehistoric West Germanic form *tehuntha-, formed from the cardinal numeral *tehun, “ten,” and the same ordinal suffix that survives in Modern English as -th. The n disappeared before the th in the West Germanic dialect area that gave rise to English, and eventually yielded the Old English form tēothe, “tenth,” still not too different from the cardinal numeral tīen. But over time, as the former became tithe and the latter ten, and as tithe developed the specialized meaning “a tenth part paid as a tax,” it grew harder to perceive a relationship between the two. The result was that speakers of English created a new word for the ordinal, tenth, built with the cardinal numeral ten on the pattern of the other regularly-formed ordinal numerals like sixth or seventh.

Learn more about tithe

link/cite print suggestion box