Bight (geography)

[2] Such bays are typically broad, open, shallow and only slightly recessed.

Traditionally, explorers defined a bight as a bay that could be sailed out of on a single tack in a square-rigged sailing vessel, regardless of the direction of the wind[citation needed] (typically meaning the apex of the bight is less than 25 degrees from the edges).

According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, an indentation with an area as large as (or larger than) that of the semi-circle whose diameter is a line drawn across the mouth of that indentation, can be regarded as a bay not merely a bight.

[4] The term is derived from Old English byht ("bend, angle, corner; bay, bight") with German Bucht and Danish bugt as cognates, both meaning "bay".

Bight is not etymologically related to "bite" (Old English bītan).