thirst
/θɜːst/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.64 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A sensation of dryness in the throat associated with a craving for liquids, produced by deprivation of drink, or by some other cause (such as fear, excitement, etc.) which stops the secretion of the pharyngeal mucous membrane.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "We developed a great thirst during our hike."
- "He had quite a thirst on and so headed to his favourite Dublin pub."
- "If you go out in the desert for long without water, the thirst can drive you mad."
- ""We haven't one chance for life in a hundred thousand if we don't find food and water upon Caprona. This water coming out of the cliff is not salt; but neither is it fit to drink, though each of us has drunk. It is fair to assume that inland the river is fed by pure streams, that there are fruits and herbs and game. Shall we lie out here and die of thirst and starvation with a land of plenty possibly only a few hundred yards away? We have the means for navigating a subterranean river. Are we too cowardly to utilize this means?""
- "She had a real thirst for news and that greatly helped her career."
- "He had a thirst for her and she had the same for him."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-West Germanic *þurstu Old English þurst Old English þyrstaninflu. Middle English thirst English thirst From Middle English thirst, thurst, from Old English þurst, from Proto-West Germanic *þurstu, from Proto-Germanic *þurstuz, from Proto-Indo-European *ters- (“dry”). Germanic cognates include Old High German thurst, Middle High German durst, German Durst, Old Saxon thurst, Old Dutch thursti, Middle Dutch dorst, dorste, Dutch dorst, Old Norse þorsti (Swedish törst, Icelandic þorsti, Faroese tosti, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål tørst, Norwegian Nynorsk tørste). Indo-European cognates include Ancient Greek τέρσομαι (térsomai), Albanian djersë (“sweat”), Sanskrit तृष्णा (tṛṣṇā, “desire; thirst”), Sanskrit तृष्यति (tṛ́ṣyati), Latin terra, Latin torridus.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /θɜːst/
- British English: /θɜːst/