Hwit

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An Old English form of the adjective white, describing the colour of snow or milk
2. An archaic spelling of white, meaning having the pale colour of fresh snow or chalk
3. The old form of the word for the lightest colour, reflecting brightness like snow

Etymology: "Hwit" is the Old English word for "white," and it survives today in the Scots and northern English dialect form "whit," as in "not a whit," meaning "not a bit." The Old English adjective was "hwīt," with a long vowel, and it came from a Germanic root shared with German "weiß" and Dutch "wit." Its ancestor was the same sense, bright and pale, which is why the colour word and the idea of brightness have always been close. The most striking thing about the Old English spelling is the initial "hw." Modern English has largely lost the "h" sound before "w," so "white" and "wine" now sound like "w" alone. Earlier English kept the breathed sound, and the pronunciation survived in parts of the United States and Scotland into the twentieth century, where speakers still distinguish "whale" from "wail." The spelling "wh" was a later convention, and the h-first arrangement reflects the older pronunciation.