Etymology

Semantically narrowed from original meaning ‘grain’, from Proto-Slavic *žito ‎(“grain, corn”), from Proto-Balto-Slavic *geit-, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷeHi-to-.

The same semantic narrowing from ‘grain’ to ‘rye’ happened with Polish żyto, Kashubian żëto, Czech žito, Belarusian жы́та ‎(žýta), and Ukrainian жи́то ‎(žýto).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʒɨtɔ/