fetter means A surname. It carries an Arena rating of 1641, earned across 11 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, fetter ranks #343 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #729 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #873 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words, #1,249 of 17,131 for Scariest Words.
fetter is pronounced /ˈfet.ə/.
Why “fetter” is a great word
A chain or shackle for binding the feet, or anything that restricts movement or action. From Middle English feter, from Old English feter, from Proto-West Germanic *fetur, from Proto-Germanic *feturaz ("fetter"), ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *ped- ("foot"). Unlike a shackle, which indifferently clasps wrist or ankle, or a hamper, which merely encumbers, a fetter is the specific, brutal anchor for the leg. It is the cold iron clasp around the ankle, the short, clinking step that prevents the run, and the invisible tether of an unexamined duty; the heaviness we carry, even when the metal has long since rusted away.
Etymology
From Middle English feter, from Old English feter, Proto-West Germanic *fetur, from Proto-Germanic *feturaz (“fetter”), from Proto-Indo-European *ped- (“to step, walk; to fall, stumble”). Related to foot. Cognates Cognate with Dutch veter (“cable, chain, hawser; bond, fetter”), Faroese fjøtur (“fetter”), Icelandic fjötur (“fetter”), Swedish fjätter (“fetter, shackle”); also Irish feadh (“extent, length”), feá (“fathom”), Scottish Gaelic feadh (“extent, length; fathom”), Latgalian pāda (“foot”), Latvian pēda (“foot”), Lithuanian pėda (“foot”), Belarusian па́даць (pádacʹ, “to fall”), Bulgarian па́дам (pádam, “to grop, fall”), Czech padat (“to fall”), Polish padać (“to fall”), Russian па́дать (pádatʹ, “to fall”), Serbo-Croatian padati, падати (“to fall”), Slovene padati (“to fall”), Ukrainian
noun
- A chain or similar object used to bind a person or animal, often by its legs.
- Anything that restricts or restrains.e.g.“Passion's too fierce to be in fetters bound.” — 1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe, Prologue:
verb
- To shackle or bind up with fetters.
- To restrain or impede; to hamper.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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