Jump to content

jetty

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

[edit]
WOTD – 21 November 2025

Pronunciation

[edit]
The double jetty (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1) of a medieval building in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, in England, United Kingdom.
A wooden jetty (noun etymology 1, noun sense 2.2) stretching out from a beach into the sea.

Etymology 1

[edit]

The noun is derived from Late Middle English gete, jette, jetti (“projecting upper storey of a building, overhang; breakwater, pier, jetty”),[1] from Anglo-Norman geté, getee, getté, and Middle French geté, getee, jeté (“projecting upper storey of a building; breakwater, pier”) (modern French jetée), a noun use of the past participle of geter, jeter, from Old French geter, jeter (“to throw”)[2] from Late Latin iectāre, the present active infinitive of iectō (“to throw”), probably from Latin iactō (“to cast, hurl, throw”), from iaciō (“to cast, hurl, throw”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(H)yeh₁- (“to throw”)) + -tō (frequentative suffix). Compare jet (“(obsolete) protruding part”), jutty.

The verb is derived from the noun.[3]

Noun

[edit]

jetty (plural jetties)

  2. (architecture) A part of a building that jets or projects beyond the rest; specifically, an upper storey which overhangs the part of the building below.
    Synonym: jutty
    • 1598, John Florio, “Spérto”, in A Worlde of Words, or Most Copious, and Exact Dictionarie in Italian and English, […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield for Edw[ard] Blount, →OCLC, page 392, column 1:
      Spérto, a porch, a portall, a baie vvindovv, or out butting, or iettie of a houſe that ietties out farther than anie other part of the houſe, a iettie or butte.
    • 1664, John Evelyn, “An Account of Architects & Architecture, together with an Historical, and Etymological Explanation of Certain Tearms Particularly Affected by Architects”, in Roland Freart [i.e., Roland Fréart de Chambray], translated by John Evelyn, A Parallel of the Antient Architecture with the Modern, […], London: […] Tho[mas] Roycroft, for John Place, […], →OCLC, part, page 137:
      Moſt prepoſtrous therefore and improper is our frequent aſſigning ſuch vveak ſupporters to ſuch monſtrous jetties and exceſſive Superſtructures as vve many times find under Balconies, Bay-VVindovvs and long Galleries, […]
  3. (by extension)
    2. A structure of stone or wood which extends into a river or sea to protect a bank, beach, harbour, etc., from currents or tides; a breakwater.
      Synonym: mole
    4. A dock or wharf extending into a river from a bank, or into a sea from a shore, for boats to land or moor at; a pier.
      Synonyms: jutty, (US) levee, quay
      Hypernym: landing place
      Coordinate term: landing stage
      • 1830, Philo Vectis [pseudonym], “The Cowes Visitors’ Companion”, in The Isle of Wight Tourist, and Companion at Cowes, Cowes, Isle of Wight: R. Moir, […], →OCLC, page 49:
        There are excellent jetties for landing by boat at the Marine Hotel, and the Vine Inn; […]
      • 1930 July 21, Arthur Ransome, “Making Ready”, in Swallows & Amazons, London: Jonathan Cape, […], published 1953, →OCLC, page 23:
        The boathouse was a stone one, with a narrow quay along each wall inside, and a small jetty sticking out beyond it into the lake.
      • 1960 May, K. A. Murray, “Carlisle Pier, Dun Laoghaire”, in Railway Magazine, page 302:
        The wooden jetty on the East Pier had become worm-eaten and was demolished, but the Admiralty lent an old hulk to serve as a rough-and-ready packet facility.
      1. A natural piece of land projecting into a body of water; a peninsula, a promontory.
      2. (aviation) In full air jetty: synonym of jet bridge (“an elevated, usually enclosed, corridor connecting an airport to an aeroplane for embarking and disembarking crew and passengers”).
    5. (obsolete) Synonym of bulwark (“a defensive rampart or wall”).
Alternative forms
[edit]
Derived terms
[edit]
Translations
[edit]
natural piece of land projecting into a body of water — see peninsula,‎ promontory

Verb

[edit]

jetty (third-person singular simple present jetties, present participle jettying, simple past and past participle jettied)

  1. (transitive)
    1. (architecture) Sometimes followed by out: to construct (a part of a building) so that it jets or projects beyond the rest.
      • 1598, John Florio, “Adentellare”, in A Worlde of Words, or Most Copious, and Exact Dictionarie in Italian and English, […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield for Edw[ard] Blount, →OCLC, page 7, column 2:
        Adentellare, […] It is properly to ietty out, or indent ſtones or timber of any vnfinished building, that another may the eaſier be ioyned vnto, or that finiſhed.
    2. (by extension) To provide (a riverbank, seashore, etc.) with a jetty (“breakwater; dock or wharf”) (noun etymology 1, noun sense 2.1 or etymology 1, noun sense 2.2).
      • 1805, Richard Parkinson, “Section XXVI. Observations on the Soil and Climate. Reasons why Canals, and Improvements in Draining, Will Not Succeed in America. […]”, in A Tour in America, in 1798, 1799, and 1800. […], volume II, London: […] J. Harding, […]; and J[ohn] Murray, […], →OCLC, page 482:
        The land is indeed materially injured in many parts, for want of drains; but I think the expence would exceed the profit: they would soon lodge up, and consequently want jettying on the sides.
      • 1889 February 16, “The Nicaragua Ship Canal”, in Scientific American: A Weekly Journal of Practical Information, Art, Science, Mechanics, Chemistry, and Manufactures, volume LX, number 7, New York, N.Y.: Munn & Co., publishers […], →OCLC, page 105, columns 1–2:
        The harbor of Greytown was formely open to vessels of considerable draught, but has almost been closed by sand bars; the surveys show, however, that the expense will be but moderate, by jettying with brush and pile, and finally strengthening of stone, of making an entrance for vessels of 30 feelt draught to an amply protected and safe harbor, […]
  2. (intransitive)
    1. (architecture) Sometimes followed by out or over: of (a part of) a building: to jet or project beyond the rest of the building or other structures.
      Synonym: jutty
      • 1598, John Florio, “Spérto”, in A Worlde of Words, or Most Copious, and Exact Dictionarie in Italian and English, […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield for Edw[ard] Blount, →OCLC, page 392, column 1:
        Spérto, a porch, a portall, a baie vvindovv, or out butting, or iettie of a houſe that ietties out farther than anie other part of the houſe, a iettie or butte.
      • 1606, Caius [i.e., Gaius] Suetonius Tranquillus, “The Historie of Caius Cæsar Caligula”, in Philêmon Holland, transl., The Historie of Twelve Cæsars Emperours of Rome. […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes and George Snowdon] for Matthew Lownes, →OCLC, section 18, page 130:
        [A]s he beheld from out of the houſe Gelotiana, the preparation and furniture of the Cirque, ſome fevv from the next open galleries jettying out, called unto him for the ſame.
      • 1615, George Sandys, “The Second Booke”, in The Relation of a Iourney Begun An: Dom: 1610. […], London: […] [Richard Field] for W. Barrett, →OCLC, page 120:
        Three ſides thereof [of Bebel Futuli, the Port of Triumph, a gate of the city of Cairo] are incloſed vvith goodly buildings, hauing galleries of pleaſure vvhich ietty over, ſuſtained vpon pillars.
    2. (by extension) To provide a riverbank, seashore, etc., with a jetty (noun etymology 1, noun sense 2.1 or etymology 1, noun sense 2.2).
Derived terms
[edit]
Translations
[edit]

Etymology 2

[edit]

From jet (“(obsolete) protruding part, projection”, noun) or jet (“to jut, project, protrude”, verb) +‎ -y (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘having the quality of’).[4]

Adjective

[edit]

jetty (comparative more jetty, superlative most jetty)

  1. (obsolete, rare) Having the characteristic of jetting or jutting out; protruding.

Etymology 3

[edit]

From jet (“hard, black form of coal; colour of jet coal”, noun) +‎ -y (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘having the quality of’).[5]

Adjective

[edit]

jetty (comparative jettier, superlative jettiest)

  1. (archaic) Like jet (“a hard, black form of coal”) in colour; jet-black, pitch-black.
    Synonyms: coal black, tar-black
  2. (obsolete, rare) Having a composition like that of jet.
    • 1856 May 1, Robert Hunt, quoting Mr. Simpson, curator of the Whitby Museum, “No. VIII.—The Whitby Jet and Ammonite Ornaments.”, in The Art-Journal, volume II (New Series), London; New York, N.Y.: […] George Virtue, […], →OCLC, page 155, column 1:
      In the Whitby Museum there is a large mass of bone, which has the exterior converted into jet for about a quarter of an inch in thickness. The jetty matter appears to have entered first into the pores of the bone, and there to have hardened; and, during the mineralising process, the whole bony matter has been gradually displaced, and its place occupied by jet, so as to preserve its original form.
      The author is possibly the British mineralogist and antiquarian Robert Hunt (1807–1887).
Derived terms
[edit]
Translations
[edit]

Etymology 4

[edit]

From jet (“(obsolete) to strut; to walk with a lofty or haughty gait”, verb) +‎ -y (suffix added for metrical reasons, or forming informal terms).[6]

Verb

[edit]

jetty (third-person singular simple present jetties, present participle jettying, simple past and past participle jettied)

  1. (intransitive, obsolete, rare) To move with haste.
    • 1570, Thomas Tusser, “To the Right Honourable and My Speciall Good Lady and Mistres, the Lady Paget”, in A Hundrethe Good Pointes of Husbandrie, Lately Maried vnto a Hundrethe Good Points of Huswifry Newly Corrected and Amplified […], revised edition, London: […] [Henry Denham? for] Rychard Tottyl, published 1571, →OCLC, stanza 13, folio 27, verso, column 1:
      Some knack not vnpretye, / of Huſwiferie nettie, / how Huſwiues ſhould iettie / from morning to night.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ “ǧetẹ̄, n.(3)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “jetty, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2025; “jetty, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. ^ “jetty, v.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2025.
  4. ^ “jetty, adj.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023.
  5. ^ “jetty, adj.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023.
  6. ^ “jetty, v.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023.

Further reading

[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=jetty&oldid=91017604"