Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

thrash

/θɹæʃ/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.15 in modern English

Syllables
thrash
IPA
/θɹæʃ/
12
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To beat mercilessly.

verb

To defeat utterly.

verb

To thresh.

verb

To move about wildly or violently; to flail; to labour.

noun

A beat or blow; the sound of beating.

Countable

noun

The roar and smoke of a particularly powerful diesel engine.

Uncountable

Example Sentences

Etymology

From Middle English thrasshen, thresche, threschen, threschyn, threshen, thresshen, tressyn, þreisshe, þresshe, (whence the modern English thresh), from Old English þerscan, þrexan, from Proto-Germanic *þreskaną (“to thresh; to tread”), from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub, turn; to drill, pierce”). Cognates Cognate with Dutch dorsen (“to thresh; to thrash”), German and Luxembourgish dreschen (“to thresh; to thrash”), Yiddish דרעשן (dreshn, “to thresh”), Danish tærske (“to thresh”), Faroese treskja (“to thresh”), Icelandic þreskja (“to thresh”), Norwegian Nynorsk treska, treske, treskja, treskje (“to thrash”), Swedish tröska (“to thresh”), Gothic 𐌸𐍂𐌹𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌽 (þriskan, “to thresh”), Finnish rehkiä (“to drudge; to toil”); also Welsh taradr (“auger, wimble; awl, borer; drill”), Latin terō (“to rub or triturate; to wear away or wear out, consume; to tread; to press with a mill; to pass, spend”), Greek τρίβω (trívo, “to grate; to rub”), Albanian tjerr (“to spin”), Belarusian це́рці (cjérci, “to rub; to polish; to pinch; to grind”), Bulgarian три́я (tríja, “to rub; to chafe; to grind”), Czech třít (“to rub; to spawn”), Polish tarć, treć, trzeć, trzyć (“to rub; to shred; to cut; to chafe; to crush; to spawn”), Russian тере́ть (terétʹ, “to rub; to polish; to grind”), Serbo-Croatian тр̏ти, tȑti (“to rub; to cause friction; to scour; to break, crush”), Slovak trieť (“to rub”), Slovene treti (“to crack open; to rub”), Ukrainian те́рти (térty, “to rub; to scrub”), Armenian թուր (tʻur, “sword”), Sogdian ܕܣܦܪܛܪ (dsprtr, “hand towel”), Hittite 𒋻𒌑𒍣 (tar-ú-zi, “to perform a round dance, to dance in twisting manner”), Tocharian A and Tocharian B tärk- (“to allow, let; to let go”), Sanskrit तर्कु (tarku, “spindle”).

Origin

Word Breakdown

  • Root: *terh₁-, thrasshen, þerscan, *þreskaną

Regional Pronunciation

  • British English: /θɹæʃ/

Usage

Inflected Forms

Derived Forms

Phrases

Synonyms

Rhymes With

Questions

How do you pronounce thrash?
The recorded pronunciation is /θɹæʃ/.
What does thrash mean?
To beat mercilessly.
Where does thrash come from?
It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce thrash

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “thrash”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/θɹæʃ/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “thrash”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “thrash” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.