What does pithy mean?
Word: Pithy
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Short and clear, and saying a great deal in few words.
Synonyms: concise, brief
Antonyms: wordy, long-winded
Word origin: Formed in English from the Old English noun pith.
How do you spell pithy?
Syllables: pith - y
Tricky part: The ending sounds like ee, which tempts students to write pithey or pithie. It takes one plain letter y.
Watch out for: pithey, pithie
Memory tip: A pithy remark wastes nothing, so the ee sound at its end gets only one letter.
Pithy in a sentence
Example 1: Grandfather's pithy remark made the whole table laugh.
Example 2: The editor cut the long report down to a pithy paragraph.
Example 3: The poster carried a pithy slogan about saving water.
Fun Fact
Pith is the white spongy layer under the skin of an orange, and it also came to mean the essential part of anything. A pithy saying gives you that part and nothing else.
Practise the CREST Way
Jumble Tumble
Choose the correct sequence of the jumbled letters to form a meaningful word:
hytpi 12345
a) 45132
b) 54312
c) 45312
d) 41352
Show answer
c) 45312. Read in this order, the five letters give the word for a short, sharp remark.
Sound Check
In which word is 'th' pronounced differently?
a) pithy
b) healthy
c) wealthy
d) worthy
Show answer
d) worthy. In worthy the th buzzes as it does in mother; in the other three it is the soft th of thin.
Word Puzzle
Match each word with its opposite:
1. pithy 2. hasty 3. shabby a. smart b. unhurried c. rambling
a) 1-b, 2-c, 3-a
b) 1-a, 2-b, 3-c
c) 1-c, 2-b, 3-a
d) 1-c, 2-a, 3-b
Show answer
c) 1-c, 2-b, 3-a. A rambling talk is far from pithy, an unhurried walk is not hasty, and smart clothes are not shabby.
Spell Spies
Choose the incorrectly spelt word:
a) pythy
b) mythical
c) lengthy
d) stealthy
Show answer
a) pythy. The first vowel here is the i of pith, and the other three words are spelt correctly.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Your teacher praises your pithy summary. What has she noticed?
a) you made your point without extra words
b) you copied the lines from the textbook
c) you wrote the summary in very neat script
d) you added many more examples than asked
Show answer
a) you made your point without extra words
2. Why do headline writers value pithy phrases?
a) a headline is always set in capitals
b) a headline is read only by editors
c) a headline must match the photograph
d) a headline has very little space
Show answer
d) a headline has very little space
