fathom

See also: faþom

English

WOTD – 25 June 2022

Etymology

From Middle English fathome, fadom, fadme (“unit of length of about six feet; depth of six feet for nautical soundings; (loosely) cubit; ell”) [and other forms],[1] from Old English fæþm, fæþme (“encircling or outstretched arms, bosom, embrace; envelopment; control, grasp, power; fathom (unit of measurement); cubit”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *faþm (“outstretched arms, embrace; fathom (unit of measurement)”), from Proto-Germanic *faþmaz (“outstretched arms, embrace; fathom (unit of measurement)”), from Proto-Indo-European *pet-, *peth₂- (“to spread out; to fly”).[2]

Cognates

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈfað(ə)m/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈfæðəm/
  • (dialectal, obsolete) IPA(key): /ˈfædəm/[3]
  • Audio (General American):(file)
  • Hyphenation: fa‧thom

Noun

fathom (plural fathoms)

  2. (chiefly nautical, historical, US) A man's armspan, generally reckoned to be six feet (about 1.8 metres). Later used to measure the depth of water, but now generally replaced by the metre outside American usage.
    Alternative form: fm (symbol)
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 27:27–28, column 2:
      [T]he ſhipmen deemed that they drew neere to ſome countrey: And ſounded, and found it twentie fathoms: and when they had gone a little further, they ſounded againe, and found it fifteene fathoms.
    • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 5, column 1:
      Full fadom fiue thy Father lies,
      Of his bones are Corrall made:
      Those are pearles that were his eies,
      Nothing of him that doth fade,
      But doth suffer a Sea-change
      Into someting rich, & strange
    • 1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 262:
      And then they told me that a good many years ago, when the speakers were boys, some Wokan men who were out fishing met these lost people in the sea, and spoke to them; and the chief gave the Wokan men a hundred fathoms of cloth to bring to the men of Wanumbai, to show that they were alive and would soon come back to them[.]
    2. An internationally standardized version of this unit, the international fathom (= 1.8288 metres = 6 feet).
      Alternative form: fm (symbol)
  3. (nautical, US) A measure of distance to shore: the nearest point to shore at which the water depth is the value quoted.
    After we'd rowed for an hour, we found ourselves stranded ten fathoms from shore.
    • 1983, Richard Ellis, “The Predators”, in The Book of Sharks, 1st paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, published 1989, →ISBN, page 7:
      At fifty fathoms, the waters of the Southern Ocean are dark blue.
  4. (figuratively)
    1. (chiefly in the plural) An unspecified depth.
    2. (archaic or obsolete) Depth of insight; mental reach or scope.
  5. (obsolete)
    1. The act of stretching out one's arms away from the sides of the torso so that they make a straight line perpendicular to the body.
    2. Someone or something that is embraced.
    3. (figuratively) Control, grasp.

Usage notes

  • At sea, the fathom is exclusively a measure of water depth. Therefore, a boat that is 100 fathoms offshore is not 600 feet from the shore, but rather at the nearest point to shore where the water depth is 600 feet.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Verb

fathom (third-person singular simple present fathoms, present participle fathoming, simple past and past participle fathomed)

  1. (transitive)
    1. (also figurative) To measure the depth of (water); to take a sounding of; to sound.
      • 1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 457:
        It is very steep, and on its summit is a lake of dark water, so deep that it cannot be fathomed.
    2. (archaic or obsolete) To encircle (someone or something) with outstretched arms; specifically, to measure the circumference or (rare) length of something.
    3. (figurative) Often followed by out: to deeply understand (someone or something); to get to the bottom of.
      Synonyms: figure out, puzzle out, work out
      Coordinate term: grok
      I can’t for the life of me fathom what this means.
      • 2018 April 10, Daniel Taylor, “Liverpool go through after Mohamed Salah stops Manchester City fightback”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎[2], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 12 October 2026:
        Otamendi’s selection ahead of Vincent Kompany was difficult to fathom and, apart from Fernandinho, City’s line-up was otherwise filled with attacking players.
    4. (obsolete) To embrace (someone or something).
  2. (intransitive)
    1. To measure a depth; to sound.
    2. (figurative) To conduct an examination or inquiry; to investigate.

Derived terms

Translations

References

  1. ^ “fadme, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “fathom, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “fathom, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. ^ Bingham, Caleb (1808), “Improprieties in Pronunciation, common among the people of New-England”, in The Child's Companion; Being a Conciſe Spelling-book […] ‎[1], 12th edition, Boston: Manning & Loring, →OCLC, page 75.

Further reading

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