Keith

K5E1I1T1H4
/kiːθ/

proper noun

A Scottish surname.

OriginScottish Gaelic Cèith ← Pictish *ᚉᚓᚈ ← Proto-Brythonic *koɨd →
CommonScrabble 12
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Meanings

proper nounKeith (countable and uncountable, plural Keiths)

plural Keiths

  1. countableA Scottish surname.
  2. countableA male given name transferred from the surname.

    “I think allowing this moniker, ‘Defund the police,’ to ever get out there, was not a good thing,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) told The Washington Post’s Dave Weigel on Thursday.

    2021 November 5, Chris Cillizza, “Even Democrats are now admitting ‘Defund the Police’ was a massive mistake”, in CNN
  3. countablerareuncountableA female given name from surname.
  4. A placename:
    1. countableuncountableA town in Moray council area, Scotland (OS grid ref NJ4250).
    2. countableuncountableA town in Tatiara council area, south-east South Australia.
    3. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Catoosa County, Georgia, United States.
    4. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Noble County, Ohio, United States.
    5. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community and coal town in Boone County, West Virginia, United States.
    6. countableuncountableA ghost town in Lincoln, Forest County, Wisconsin, United States.

Origin

  1. Middle High Germankit“sprout, offspring”
  2. Proto-Brythonic*koɨd
  3. Pictish*ᚉᚓᚈ
  4. Scottish GaelicCèith
  5. EnglishKeith

* As a Scottish surname, from the placename in Moray, Scotland, from Scottish Gaelic Cèith, meaning "wood" or "from the battleground," which is probably borrowed from Pictish *ᚉᚓᚈ (cēt) meaning "wood", or a forest, from Proto-Brythonic *koɨd. * As a German surname, from Middle High German kit (“sprout, offspring”); compare Middle High German kint.

More words from Scottish Gaelic, Pictish, Proto-Brythonic

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with Keith

beneathheathunderneathsithwreathsheathhadithneathbequeaththreeth
All rhymes →

Anagrams

kithe
Cite this entry
APA

Keith. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Keith

MLA

“Keith.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Keith. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Keith,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Keith.

Source: Keith on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.