summit
English
Etymology 1
From Late Middle English somete, from early Middle French somete, from Old French sommette, somet (compare modern French sommet), a diminutive of som (“highest part, top of a hill”), from Latin summum.
Pronunciation
- enPR: sŭmʹĭt, IPA(key): /ˈsʌmɪt/
Audio (US) (file) - Homophone: summat (in some dialects)
- Rhymes: -ʌmɪt
Noun
summit (plural summits)
Usage notes
Colloquially summit is used for only the highest point of a mountain, while in mountaineering any point that is higher than surrounding points is a summit, such as the South Summit of Mount Everest. These are distinguished by topographic prominence as subsummits (low prominence) or independent summits (high prominence).
Derived terms
- subsummit
- Summit County
- summiteer
Translations
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Verb
summit (third-person singular simple present summits, present participle summiting or summitting, simple past and past participle summited or summitted)
- (transitive, hiking, climbing, colloquial) To reach the summit of a mountain.
- 2012, Kenza Moller, "Eyes on the North," Canadian Geographic, vol. 132, no. 4 (July/Aug.) p. 10:
- Of the range's 12 peaks, Mount Saskatchewan is the only one that has yet to be summited.
- 2012, Kenza Moller, "Eyes on the North," Canadian Geographic, vol. 132, no. 4 (July/Aug.) p. 10:
Etymology 2
From Middle English *summit, *sumwit, *sumwiht, variant of sum wiht, som wiht (“some thing”, literally “some wight”). More at some, wight.
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈsʊmit/