pith

1. 1.

   soft spongelike central cylinder of the stems of most flowering plants

   Broaderplant tissue
2. 2.

   the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience

   “the gist of the prosecutor's argument”

   “the heart and soul of the Republican Party”

   “the nub of the story”

   Synonymskernelsubstancecorecentercentreessencegistheartheart and soulinwardnessmarrowmeatnubsum

   Broadercontent

   Narrowerbare boneshypostasisquiddityquintessencestuff

   Canada · United Kingdom

1. 1.

   remove the pith from (a plant)

   Broaderget rid of

Other forms of pith

plural

piths·

past tense

pithed·

present participle

pithing·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about pith

What does pith mean?

pith means "soft spongelike central cylinder of the stems of most flowering plants". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in pith?

pith has 1 syllable: pith. In IPA it is /ˈpɪθ/.

What is another word for pith?

Close synonyms include kernel, substance, core, center, centre. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is pith a common word?

pith is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.