English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ləʊθ/

Adjective

loth ‎(comparative lother, superlative lothest)

1. (Britain) Alternative form of loath

   I was loth to return to the office without the Henderson file.

Usage notes

• Often confused in meaning and pronunciation with loathe.
• The loath spelling is about four times more common in the UK and about fifty times more common in the US.
• This spelling had more currency in the US in the 19th century, appearing in Webster's 1828 dictionary, but not the 1913 edition.

Quotations

• For usage examples of this term, see Citations:loth.

Derived terms

• lothly
• lothness

Translations

Etymology 2

From German Loth (obsolete), Lot, later also from Dutch lood, both specific usages of the word for ‘lead’.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ləʊt/

Noun

loth ‎(plural loths)

1. (now historical) A measure of weight formerly used in Germany, the Netherlands and some other parts of Europe, equivalent to half of the local ounce. [from 17th c.]
   • 1999, Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, translating Paracelsus, Opus Paramirum, in Essential Readings, North Atlantic Books 1999, p. 100:

     It is not a matter of body but of virtues, which is why the fifth essence was invented, of which one loth is superior to the twenty pounds of the body from which it was extracted.

Anagrams

• holt, Holt

Middle English

Etymology

From Old English lāþ ‎(“hateful”)

Adjective

loth

1. hateful, evil
2. reluctant

Scottish Gaelic

Noun

loth f ‎(genitive singular lotha, plural lothan)

1. foal
2. filly