kilter

Meaning

Chiefly in out of kilter: (good) condition, form, or order; fettle.

Synonyms

order

kelter

airplane

✈️

array

ashes

baby

👶

bar

burrito

🌯

bash

block

blonde

boo

boom

💥

broccoli

🥦

greeter

grata

charge

dew

ding

ditch

fettle

fir

flower

🌸

funk

gage

gangster

gash

gauge

Ghana

🇬🇭

grass

bud

bale

greta

has

hay

hemp

herb

🌿

homegrown

hooch

kali

kind

limbo

loaf

lobo

loco

locoweed

Lucas

machinery

macon

arrangement

Translations

buen estado

gute Kondition

καλή κατάσταση

حالة جيّدة

erva

🌿

ordem

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈkɪltə/

Etymology

Cognate with Danish: kilte

Cognate with Scots: kilt

In summary

A variant of dialectal kelter (“good condition, order”), of unknown origin; possibly related to kilt (“to gather up (skirts) around the body”) (cognate with Danish kilte (“to tuck”)), or Scots kilt (“proper way of doing something, knack”) (probably from kilt (“a slope; a tilt”), possibly a variant of English tilt). In the 19th century, kelter was the more common form in the United Kingdom, while kilter was more common in the United States. Due to the influence of the latter, kilter is now the more prevalent form in all English varieties.