the.com/girth
The dimension everyone pretends not to measure but absolutely does.
means The measurement around something — its thickness or circumference, especially of a round or bulky object.
from From Old Norse "gjörð," meaning a girdle or band — the same instinct that wraps a strap around a horse's belly to hold the saddle (that strap is still literally called a "girth"). It's a cousin of "gird" and "girdle," all from a Germanic root meaning to encircle or bind. So at its heart, girth is about the distance the encircling thing has to travel — the size of the loop you'd need to go all the way around.
- horse origin
- Originally the strap cinching a saddle tight
- tree science
- Foresters measure trunk girth to estimate age
- old norse
- Rooted in 'gjörth,' meaning belt or hoop
- engineering
- Pipe girth welds join sections end to end
- vs length
- Circumference, not distance — a common math mix-up
blue whale — largest animal on earth with a body girth exceeding 40 feet in circumference at the widest point
general sherman tree — giant sequoia in california with a girth of 30.7 feet in diameter, largest tree by volume
baobab tree madagascar — african baobab trees can reach girths of 35+ feet in diameter, living for thousands of years