"T" Word Origins

Thailand

Origin

From Thai + "land" — literally "land of the Thai people," from ไทย (tai).

Thais

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek Thaḯs, best known as the name of a companion of Alexander the Great.

Thakur

Hindi

From Hindi ठाकुर (ṭhākur), a historical feudal title.

thalamus

Origin

From Latin thalamus, from Ancient Greek θάλαμος (thálamos, “an inner chamber, a bedroom, a bed”).

thalia

Origin

From Ancient Greek Θαλία (Thalía) or Θάλεια (Tháleia); from Ancient Greek θάλλω (thállō, “flourish, to be verdant”).

thallate

Origin

From thallic acid + -ate (“salt or ester”).

thallium

Greek

Named from Greek thallos, "green shoot," because the element produces a bright green line in its spectrum.

Thames

Old English

From Old English Temes, ultimately from an ancient Celtic river-name meaning roughly "dark water."

than

Old English

From Old English þonne — originally the same word as "then," which split off as a separate spelling for comparisons.

thanatos

Origin

From Ancient Greek Θάνατος (Thánatos).

thane

Old English

From Old English þegn, "man" or "warrior," related to a word for a nobleman's retainer.

Thang

Origin

An altered spelling of thing, representing pronunciation in the southern United States (see thank–think merger); compare everytang. Also see archaic variants for "thing" like Middle English theing.

thank

Old English

From Old English þancian, related to the noun "thank" meaning gratitude or thought.

thank you

Middle English

From Middle English thanke yow; as with thank God, praise be to God, and praise the Lord, it was originally a present subjunctive form but is usually not parsed that way in current usage. It has also sometimes been parsed as a prodrop form of (present indicative) I thank you, a mechanism that may plausibly coexist with the other one (instances being variable).

thankful

Old English

From Old English þancful, "grateful" — thank plus the suffix -ful.

thankfully

Middle English

From Middle English thankfully, thankefully, þonkfulliche, from Old English þancfullīċe, equivalent to thankful + -ly.

thankfulness

Origin

From thankful + -ness.

thankless

Origin

From thank + -less, "without thanks."

thanks

Old English

From Old English þancas, plural of þanc ("thought," "gratitude").

Thanksgiving

Origin

Formed from thanks + giving — literally the act of giving thanks.

Thar

Hindi

From Hindi थर (thar), related to a word for "desert" or "wasteland."

tharm

Origin

From Middle English tharm, therm, from Old English þearm (“gut, entrail, intestine”), from Proto-West Germanic *þarm (“guts”), from Proto-Germanic *þarmaz (“guts”), from Proto-Indo-European *tórmos, *torh₂mo- (“hole”), from Proto-Indo-European *ter- (“to rub, bore, twist”). Cognate with Scots thairm (“gut; bowel; intestine”), North Frisian teerm (“bowel”), West Frisian term (“bowel”), Dutch darm (“bowel; gut; intestine”), German Darm (“gut; intestine; bowel”), Danish tarm (“bowel; gut; intestine”), Norwegian tarm (“intestine”), Norwegian Nynorsk tarm (“intestine”), Swedish tarm (“bowel; gut”), Icelandic þarmur (“bowel”), Latin trāmes (“way; path, track”), Ancient Greek τρᾰ́μῑς (trắmīs, “tharm; gut”), τόρμος (tórmos, “socket; peg”). Doublet of derm.

that

Old English

From Old English þæt, the neuter form of the demonstrative that also gave us "the." It has been part of English since its earliest recorded stages.

thataway

Origin

A folksy blend of "that" and "way."

thatch

Origin

Variant of thack, from Middle English thache, thach, from Old English þæc (“roof-covering”), from Proto-West Germanic *þak, from Proto-Germanic *þaką (“covering”), from (o-grade of) Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- (“cover”). Cognate with Icelandic þak, Dutch dak, German Dach, Norwegian tak, Swedish tak, Danish tag; and with Latin toga, Albanian thak (“awn, beard, pin, peg, tassel, fringe”), Lithuanian stogas (“roof”), Welsh to (“roof”). Related to Ancient Greek τέγος (tégos, “roof”) and στέγη (stégē, “roof”). See also English deech, deck.

thatcher

Origin

From thatch + -er — literally "one who thatches."

thaumaturge

Origin

From Medieval Latin thaumatūrgus, from Ancient Greek θαυματουργός (thaumatourgós), from θαύματο- (thaúmato-, “marvel”) + -ουργός (-ourgós, “worker, maker”). Doublet of thaumaturgus.

thaumaturgy

Origin

From Ancient Greek θαυματουργία (thaumatourgía), from θαῦμα (thaûma, “miracle, wonder”) + ἔργον (érgon, “work”).

thaw

Old English

From Old English þawian, "to thaw" — an old Germanic word for melting ice or snow.

thawing

Origin

From thaw + -ing.

the

Old English

From Old English þē, a form of the demonstrative pronoun that eventually took over as the standard definite article in Middle English.

Thea

Greek

A shortened form of Dorothea or Theodora, ultimately from Greek theá, "goddess."

theater

Greek

From Greek théatron, "a place for viewing," from theáomai, "to watch."

theatre

Greek

From Greek theatron 'a place for viewing', from theasthai 'to behold', via Latin theatrum and Old French theatre.

theatrical

Latin

From Latin theatricus, ultimately from Greek théatron.

Thebes

Greek

From Greek Thêbai — the Greek and Egyptian cities share the English name but developed it from unrelated original words.

thecal

Origin

From theca + -al.

thecium

Origin

From New Latin thēcium, from Ancient Greek θήκιον (thḗkion), diminutive of θήκη (thḗkē, “sheath”).

thee

Old English

From Old English þē, the object form of "thou," related to modern "thee/thou/thy."

theedom

Origin

From Middle English thedom, thedome, thedam (“prosperity, success”); from thee (“to thrive, to prosper”) + -dom.

theft

Old English

From Old English þīefþ, related to "thief" — literally the state or act of being a thief.

theia

Origin

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Θεία (Theía).

their

Old Norse

From Old Norse þeira.

theirs

Middle English

From Middle English theires, formed from "their" plus "-s," on the model of "his."

theist

Greek

From Greek theos 'god', plus the suffix -ist.

theistic

Origin

From Ancient Greek.

Thelma

Greek · 1840

Invented by a Swedish novelist in the 1840s; later folk tradition linked it to Greek thélēma, "will," though that connection was added after the fact.

them

Old English

From Old Norse þeim, borrowed into Middle English to replace the native Old English object form.