View source for Ait

{{Short description|Small river islands (British English)}}
{{other uses|AIT (disambiguation)}}
{{redirect|Eyot|the Serbian band|Eyot (band)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2018}}
[[File:Brentford and Lots Aits OS OpenData map.png|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Brentford Ait]] on the River Thames]]

An '''ait''' ({{IPAc-en|eɪ|t}}, like ''eight'') or '''eyot''' ({{IPAc-en|aɪ|(|ə|)|t|,_|eɪ|t}}) is a small island. The term is especially used to refer to [[river island]]s found on the [[River Thames]] and its tributaries in [[England]].<ref name=www>{{cite web | title=Eyot | website=World Wide Words | date=21 June 2003 | url=http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-eyo1.htm | access-date=30 April 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Definition of eyot | website=www.dictionary.com | date=20 April 2020 | url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/eyot | access-date=30 April 2020}}</ref><ref name=atlas>{{cite web | last=Misachi | first=John | title=What is an Ait? Ait Defintion &#91;sic&#93; | website=WorldAtlas | date=5 April 2019 | url=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-is-an-ait-ait-defintion.html | access-date=30 April 2020}}</ref>

Aits are typically formed by the deposit of [[sediment]] in the water, which accumulates. An ait is characteristically long and narrow, and may become a permanent island should it become secured and protected by growing vegetation. However, aits may also be eroded: the resulting sediment is deposited further downstream and could result in another ait. A channel with numerous aits is called a [[braided channel]].<ref name=atlas/>

==Etymology==
The word derives from [[Old English]] ''iggath'' (or ''igeth''); the root of the word, ''ieg'', meaning island, with a diminutive suffix.<ref name=queen>{{cite web | title=Queen's Eyot : History of the island | website=Unique and Exclusive Venue for Weddings and Corporate Events | url=http://www.queenseyot.co.uk/about/history/ | access-date=30 April 2020}}</ref><ref name=www/>
==References in literature==
[[File:Bush Eyot upstream side (Nancy).JPG|thumb|right|[[Bush Ait]] on the [[River Thames]] in Berkshire. Growing trees and other plants have secured the material that makes up the ait, protecting it from erosion.]]

Although not common in 21st-century [[English language|English]], "ait" or "eyot" appears in [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', [[Charles Dickens]]'s ''[[Bleak House]]'',<ref name=queen/> and [[Thackeray]]'s ''[[Vanity Fair (novel)|Vanity Fair]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=ait%2Ceyot&year_start=1808&year_end=2008&corpus=4&smoothing=3 |title=Google Ngram Viewer|website=Google Books|access-date=30 April 2020}} ([[Google Ngram Viewer]])</ref>

[[Joyce Cary]] used "eyot" in ''[[The Horse's Mouth]]'' – "Sun was in the bank. Streak of salmon below. Salmon trout above soaking into wash blue. River whirling along so fast that its skin was pulled into wrinkles like silk dragged over the floor. Shot silk. Fresh breeze off the eyot. Sharp as spring frost. Ruffling under the silk-like muscles in a nervous horse.  Ruffling under my grief like ice and hot daggers".{{Cn|date=September 2022}}

More recently, "eyot" was used by [[Terry Pratchett]] in the first of the ''[[Discworld]]'' books, ''[[The Colour of Magic]]''.  It also appears in ''The Pope's Rhinoceros'' by [[Lawrence Norfolk]].{{Cn|date=September 2022}}

In 1995, [[William Horwood (novelist)]] used it in ''Toad Triumphant'', written in the style of  and one of his sequels to the 1908 novel ''[[The Wind in the Willows]]'' by [[Kenneth Grahame]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xg6Rwfbfu28C&q=william%20horwood%20toad%20triumphant%20%22eyot%22&pg=PA34 |title=Toad Triumphant |isbn=978-0-312-18304-2 |access-date=17 February 2024 |last1=Horwood |first1=William |date=15 October 1998 |publisher=Macmillan }} ([[Toad Triumphant]]) </ref>

== See also ==
* {{annotated link|Braid bar}}
* {{annotated link|Islands in the River Thames}}
* {{annotated link|Shoal}}
* {{annotated link|River island}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links  ==
* {{wiktionary-inline|ait}}

{{river morphology}}
{{Rivers, streams and springs}}

[[Category:Fluvial landforms]]
[[Category:Islands of England]]
[[Category:Islands of the River Thames]]

[[an:Mechana]]
[[mk:Средорек]]
[[ru:Владимирская область]]