meth

See also: með, Meth., and meth-

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛθ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio (Australia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛθ

Etymology 1

Clipping of methamphetamine.

Noun

meth (countable and uncountable, plural meths)

2. (informal) Methamphetamine, especially in the form of the crystalline hydrochloride.

Derived terms

• crystal meth
• meth cook
• methhead
• meth mouth

Translations

methamphetamine

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 冰 (zh) (bīng), 冰毒 (zh) (bīngdú)

• Czech: piko (cs) n, perník (cs) m, peří (cs) n, péčko (cs) n, párno n
• Persian: شیشه (fa) (šiše)
• Russian: мет (ru) m (met)
• Spanish: meta (es) f
• Swedish: (slang) metatjack (sv) n

See also

• tweaker

Etymology 2

Clipping of methadone.

Noun

meth (countable and uncountable, plural meths)

1. (informal) Methadone.
   • 1998 November 14, Markus, “Re: METH”, in alt.recovery‎^[1] (Usenet):

     Dunno why you want to try and make last any longer than it already does. Meth has to be the single most wicked shit I ever involved myself with. But as far as what it actually does, your best bet would be to trot down to the local library and look it up.

Etymology 3

From meths or methylated spirits, as stereotypically drunk by tramps.

Alternative forms

• meff

Noun

meth (plural meths)

1. (derogatory, Liverpool, Manchester) A tramp.

See also

• wino

Etymology 4

From metheglin, from Welsh meddyglyn, from meddyg (“medicinal”) (from Latin medicus) + llyn (“liquor”) (cognate with Irish lionn and Gaelic leann).

Noun

meth (countable and uncountable, plural meths)

1. A spiced mead, originally from Wales.
   • 1678, John Worlidge, Vinetum Britannicum, or a Treatise of Cider, 3rd edit.:

     The Russians, Swedes, Danes, and those of Northern Inhabitants, exceed all the rest, having made the drinking of Brandy, Aqua Vitae, Hydromel, Beer, Mum, Meth, and other Liquors in great quantitites, so familiar to them, that they usually drink our countrymen to death.

Etymology 5

Clipping of method, which see.

Noun

meth (countable and uncountable, plural meths)

1. (slang) Marijuana.

Anagrams

• them, TEHM, MHET, tehm

Cornish

Etymology 1

From Proto-Celtic *metom, possibly borrowed from a non-Indo-European substrate.

Noun

meth f (plural methow)

1. failure
2. shame, disgrace

Etymology 2

From Proto-Celtic *maketi (“to raise”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂ḱ- (“long, to raise”).

Noun

meth m

1. nurture, nourishing

Mutation

Mutation of meth

radical	soft	aspirate	hard	mixed
meth	veth	unchanged	unchanged	feth, veth*

* after 'th
Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Cornish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• meeth, methe, meþ, meþe

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Norse mjǫðr (from Proto-Germanic *meduz) or Middle Welsh með (from Proto-Brythonic *með, from Proto-Celtic *medu), both ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *médʰu. Doublet of mede (“mead”). First attested in c. 1300.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛ̝ːθ/

Noun

meth (uncountable)

2. mead (alcoholic beverage)

Descendants

• English: meath (dialectal)

References

• “mēd(e, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Welsh

Etymology

Ultimately from *mettom, a geminate form of Proto-Celtic *metom. Cognate with Irish meath.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /meːθ/

Noun

meth m or f (plural methion)

1. failure, fault, defect

   Synonyms: methiant, pall, diffyg, bai, gwall, ffaeledd, cyfeiliornad

2. cessation

   Synonym: darfod

3. adversity, misfortune

   Synonyms: aflwydd, adfyd, anap

Derived terms

• ar feth (“perished, ruined”)
  • mynd ar feth (“to come to ruin, to perish”)
• di-feth (“unfailing, unerring”)
• heb feth (“without failing, unceasing(ly)”)
• methu (“to fail”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of meth

radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
meth	feth	unchanged	unchanged

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.