Kythe

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To make something visible by showing or displaying it ; to cast or send out light or brightness from a source
2. To reveal or present clearly to others ; to shine or glow with emitted light
3. To make known or apparent visually ; to produce or spread light in a noticeable way

Etymology: "Kythe" is an alternative spelling of "kithe," a word that has been around since Old English, when "cȳþan" meant to make something known. Its ancestor reaches back to the Proto-Germanic "kunþijaną," which carried the same sense of making things known to others. The word passed into Middle English as "kiþen" and "küthen," and it kept its core meaning of revealing or presenting something clearly. The verb's second sense, to shine or glow with emitted light, sits oddly beside the first, but the two belong to one line of development. Revealing something to the eye and giving off light so that things can be seen both involve bringing something into view, so the older sense of making known could stretch naturally toward illumination. Few English verbs of this antiquity have kept such a spread of meaning while staying in use in more or less the same form.