stilt

English

A girl on stilts (walking poles).

A stilt (bird)

Etymology

From Middle English stilte, stulte, from Old English *stilte, *stylte, from Proto-Germanic *stiltijǭ, *staltijǭ, *stultijǭ (“stilt”), from Proto-Germanic *stelt- (“to be stiff”). Akin to Danish stylte, Dutch stelt, German Stelze.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stɪlt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪlt

Noun

stilt (plural stilts)

1. Either of two poles with footrests that allow someone to stand or walk above the ground; used mostly by entertainers.
2. A tall pillar or post used to support some structure; often above water.

   Coordinate terms: pile, pier, staddle stone

3. Any of various wading birds of the genera Himantopus and Cladorhynchus, related to the avocet, that have extremely long legs and long thin bills.
4. A crutch.
5. The handle of a plough.
   • 1829 December, [Walter Scott], “Introduction”, in Rob Roy (Waverley Novels; VII), Edinburgh: […] Cadell & Company; London: Simpkin & Marshall, →OCLC, pages lxxxvii–lxxxviii:

     He […] shot MacLaren when between the stilts of his plough, […]

Derived terms

• banded stilt
• black-necked stilt (Himantopus mexicanus)
• black-winged stilt
• stilt bug
• stilt grass (Microstegium vimineum)
• stilt house
• stilt palm
• stilt plover (Himantopus knudseni)
• stilt root
• stilt sandpiper (Calidris himantopus)
• stiltwalker

Translations

walking pole

Armenian: ոտնացուպ (hy) (otnacʻup) Belarusian: хаду́ля f (xadúlja), ды́ба f (dýba) Bulgarian: коки́ли (bg) pl (kokíli) Catalan: xanca (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 高蹺 / 高跷 (zh) (gāoqiāo) Czech: chůdy m pl Danish: stylte Dutch: stelt (nl) f Estonian: kark Finnish: puujalka (fi) French: échasse (fr) f Galician: zanco m, chanca f Georgian: ოჩოფეხა (očopexa) German: Stelze (de) f Greek: Ancient: κωλόβαθρον n (kōlóbathron) Hungarian: gólyaláb (hu) Icelandic: stulta (is) f Irish: cos croise f Italian: trampolo (it) m Japanese: 竹馬 (ja) (たけうま, takeuma) Korean: 죽마(竹馬) (ko) (jungma) Latin: grallae f pl Macedonian: наногалка f (nanogalka), кокила f (kokila) Maori: poukoki, poutoti Norwegian: Bokmål: stylte m Polish: szczudło n Portuguese: perna de pau (pt) f Romanian: piciorong (ro) n, catalige (ro) n pl Russian: ходу́ля (ru) f (xodúlja) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ходуља f, гигаља f, шту̏ла f Roman: hodulja f, gigalja f, štȕla (sh) f Spanish: zanco m Swedish: stylta (sv) Tagalog: kikik Turkish: tahta bacak Ukrainian: хі́для f (xídlja), хі́длі pl or f pl (xídli), ди́би pl (dýby), ходу́ля f (xodúlja) Vietnamese: cà kheo (vi)

pillar

Chinese: Mandarin: please add this translation if you can Dutch: stelt (nl) f Finnish: paalu (fi), tolppa (fi) French: pilotis (fr) m German: Stelze (de) f Irish: cos taca f Italian: trampolo (it) m, palo (it) m Norwegian: Bokmål: stylte m Nynorsk: stylte f Portuguese: estaca (pt) f Russian: сва́я (ru) f (svája) Spanish: pilote (es) m

bird

Arabic: كُرْسُوع m (kursūʕ), أَبُو الْمَغَازِل m (ʔabū l-maḡāzil) Bengali: please add this translation if you can Czech: pisila Dhivehi: ތޭރަވާ އިލޮޅި (tēravā iloḷi) Dutch: steltloper (nl) m Esperanto: himantopo Finnish: pitkäjalka (fi) French: échassier (fr) m German: Stelzenläufer (de) m Greek: Ancient: ἱμαντόπους m (himantópous) Hindi: please add this translation if you can Hungarian: please add this translation if you can Italian: cavaliere d'Italia m Kazakh: please add this translation if you can Persian: please add this translation if you can Polish: szczudłak (pl) m Portuguese: narceja (pt) f Romanian: piciorong (ro) n Russian: кули́к (ru) m (kulík), ходу́лочник (ru) (xodúločnik) Serbo-Croatian: Roman: vlastelica (sh) f Spanish: cigüeñuela (es) f Swedish: styltlöpare (sv) c Uzbek: please add this translation if you can Venetan: sgambirla f

crutch — see crutch

handle of a plough

Albanian: dorak (sq) m, dorezë (sq) f Armenian: մաճ (hy) (mač) Dutch: trekstang f French: mancheron (fr) m Galician: rabela f Georgian: მაჭი (mač̣i) German: Sterz (de) m Italian: stegola f, stiva (it) f Portuguese: rabiça (pt) f, esteva (pt) f Romanian: corn (ro) n Russian: о́бжа (ru) f (óbža), рукоя́тка плуга́ f (rukojátka plugá) Spanish: mancera (es) f, esteva (es) f Turkish: saban ağacı Welsh: haeddel f

Verb

stilt (third-person singular simple present stilts, present participle stilting, simple past and past participle stilted)

1. to raise on stilts, or as if on stilts
2. to apply unnecessary pomp or formality

Further reading

• stilt on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Litts, tilts

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• stillet (Etymology 3)

Verb

stilt

1. past participle of stille

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

Verb

stilt

1. past participle of stilla

Etymology 2

Adjective

stilt

1. neuter singular of still