Where does th- come from?

It is traced to Middle English.

th-

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.20 in modern English

Scrabble Score

Letters

Syllables

Unique Chars

prefix

The.

Obsolete

"th- + old → thold"
"th- + art → thart"
"th- + other → thother"
"Note therfore that Czar in the Ruthens tounge signifieth a kynge, wheras in the language of the Slauons, Pollons, Bohemes, and other, the same woorde Czar, signifieth Cesar by whiche name Themperours haue byn commonly cauled."

Inherited from Middle English th-.

th'

How to pronounce th-

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “th-”.

Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.

Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “th-”.

Repeat and practice — Say “th-” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.