英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

thicket (n.)[thicket 词源字典]: "close-set growth of shrubs, bushes, trees, etc.," late Old English þiccet, from þicce (see thick) + denominative suffix -et. Absent in Middle English, reappearing early 16c., perhaps a dialectal survival or a re-formation.[thicket etymology, thicket origin, 英语词源]
thickness (n.): Old English þicness "density, viscosity, hardness; depth; anything thick or heavy; darkness; thicket;" see thick + -ness.
thickset (adj.): also thick-set, late 14c., thikke sette "with parts or things set close together" (of grass on a sward, etc.), from thick + set (v.). Meaning "stocky, strong and square-built" is recorded from 1724.
thief (n.): Old English þeof "thief, robber," from Proto-Germanic *theubaz (cognates: Old Frisian thiaf, Old Saxon thiof, Middle Dutch and Dutch dief, Old High German diob, German dieb, Old Norse þiofr, Gothic þiufs), of uncertain origin.
thieve (v.): Old English þeofian "to thieve, steal," from þeof (see thief). Rare in Old English, rarer in Middle English, not common until 17c.; perhaps the modern word is a late 16c. re-formation. Thieving (adj.) first attested 1520s.
thievery (n.): 1560s, from thieve + -ery. An Old English word for it was þeofend.
thievish (adj.): mid-15c., "of or pertaining to thieves," from thieve or thief + -ish. Meaning "inclined to steal" is from 1530s. Wyclif and Chaucer used thiefly (late 14c.). Related: Thievishly; thievishness.
thigh (n.): Old English þeoh, þeh, from Proto-Germanic *theuham (cognates: Old Frisian thiach, Old Dutch thio, Dutch dij, Old Norse þjo, Old High German dioh), probably literally "the thick or fat part of the leg," from PIE *teuk- from root *teue- (2) "to swell" (cognates: Lithuanian taukas, Old Church Slavonic tuku, Russian tuku "fat of animals;" Lithuanian tukti "to become fat;" Avestan tuma "fat;" Greek tylos "callus, lump," tymbos "burial mound, grave, tomb;" Old Irish ton "rump;" Latin tumere "to swell," tumulus "raised heap of earth," tumidus "swollen;"tumor "a swelling;" Middle Irish tomm "a small hill," Welsh tom "mound").
thigmotropism (n.): 1900, from thigmo-, comb. form meaning "touch," from Greek thigma "touch" + tropism.
thilk (pron., adj.): "that same, the very thing," early 13c., contraction from þe "the" (see the) + ilce "same" (see ilk).
thimble (n.): Old English þymel "sheath or covering for the thumb," from thuma (see thumb (n.)) + -el (1), used in forming names of instruments (compare handle). Excrescent -b- began mid-15c. (compare humble, nimble). Originally of leather, metal ones came into use 17c. Related: Thimbleful. Thimblerig, con game played with three thimbles and a pea or button, is attested from 1825 by this name, though references to thimble cheats, probably the same swindle, date back to 1716 (see rig (v.)).
thin (adj.): Old English þynne "narrow, lean, scanty, not dense; fluid, tenuous; weak, poor," from Proto-Germanic *thunni "thin" (cognates: West Frisian ten, Middle Low German dunne, Middle Dutch dunne, Dutch dun, Old High German dunni, German dünn, Old Norse þunnr, Swedish tunn, Danish tynd), from PIE *tnu- "stretched, stretched out" (hence "thin"), from root *ten- "to stretch" (cognates: Latin tenuis "thin, slender;" see tenet).
These our actors ... were all Spirits, and Are melted into Ayre, into thin Ayre. [Shakespeare, "The Tempest," IV.i.150, 1610]
"Loose or sparse," hence "easily seen through," with figurative extensions. Related: Thinly; thinness. Thin-skinned is attested from 1590s; the figurative sense of "touchy" is from 1670s.
thin (v.): Old English þynnian "to make thin, lessen, dilute," also intransitive, "become thin," from thin (adj.). Intransitive sense of "to become less numerous" is attested from 1743; that of "to become thinner" is recorded from 1804. Compare similarly formed German dünnen, Dutch dunnen. Related: Thinned; thinning.
thine (pron.): Old English þin, possessive pronoun (originally genitive of þu "thou"), from Proto-Germanic *thinaz (cognates: Old Frisian, Old Saxon thin, Middle Dutch dijn, Old High German din, German dein, Old Norse þin), from PIE *t(w)eino-, suffixed form of second person singular pronominal base *tu-. A brief history of the second person pronoun in English can be found here; see also thou.
thing (n.): Old English þing "meeting, assembly, council, discussion," later "entity, being, matter" (subject of deliberation in an assembly), also "act, deed, event, material object, body, being, creature," from Proto-Germanic *thingam "assembly" (cognates: Old Frisian thing "assembly, council, suit, matter, thing," Middle Dutch dinc "court-day, suit, plea, concern, affair, thing," Dutch ding "thing," Old High German ding "public assembly for judgment and business, lawsuit," German Ding "affair, matter, thing," Old Norse þing "public assembly"). The Germanic word is perhaps literally "appointed time," from a PIE *tenk- (1), from root *ten- "stretch," perhaps on notion of "stretch of time for a meeting or assembly."

The sense "meeting, assembly" did not survive Old English. For sense evolution, compare French chose, Spanish cosa "thing," from Latin causa "judicial process, lawsuit, case;" Latin res "affair, thing," also "case at law, cause." Old sense is preserved in second element of hustings and in Icelandic Althing, the nation's general assembly.

Of persons, often pityingly, from late 13c. Used colloquially since c. 1600 to indicate things the speaker can't name at the moment, often with various meaningless suffixes (see thingamajig). Things "personal possessions" is from c. 1300. The thing "what's stylish or fashionable" is recorded from 1762. Phrase do your thing "follow your particular predilection," though associated with hippie-speak of 1960s is attested from 1841.
thingamajig (n.): also thingumajig, 1824, see thing. Compare thingum (1670s), thingumbob (1751), thingummy (1796).
think (v.): Old English þencan "imagine, conceive in the mind; consider, meditate, remember; intend, wish, desire" (past tense þohte, past participle geþoht), probably originally "cause to appear to oneself," from Proto-Germanic *thankjan (cognates: Old Frisian thinka, Old Saxon thenkian, Old High German denchen, German denken, Old Norse þekkja, Gothic þagkjan).

Old English þencan is the causative form of the distinct Old English verb þyncan "to seem, to appear" (past tense þuhte, past participle geþuht), from Proto-Germanic *thunkjan (cognates: German dünken, däuchte). Both are from PIE *tong- "to think, feel" which also is the root of thought and thank.

The two Old English words converged in Middle English and þyncan "to seem" was absorbed, except for its preservation in archaic methinks "it seems to me." As a noun, "act of prolonged thinking," from 1834. The figurative thinking cap is attested from 1839.
think tank (n.): also think-tank, 1959 as "research institute" (first reference is to Center for Behavioral Sciences, Palo Alto, Calif.); it had been colloquial for "the brain" since 1905. See think + tank (n.).
thinkable (adj.): 1805; see think (v.) + -able. Possibly a back-formation from unthinkable.
thinker (n.): "one who has cultivated the powers of thought," mid-15c., agent noun from think (v.).