Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

thresh

/θɹɛʃ/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.20 in modern English

Syllables
thresh
IPA
/θɹɛʃ/
12
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To separate the grain from the straw or husks (chaff) by mechanical beating, with a flail or machinery, or by driving animals over them.

Transitive verb

verb

To separate the grain from the straw or husks (chaff) by mechanical beating, with a flail or machinery, or by driving animals over them.

Intransitive verb; Transitive verb

verb

To beat soundly, usually with some tool such as a stick or whip; to drub.

Literary; Transitive verb

verb

To violently toss the limbs about.

Intransitive verb; Literary

verb

To belabor; to go over repeatedly, especially an argument.

Literary; Transitive verb

Example Sentences

Etymology

From Middle English thrasshen, thresche, threschen, threschyn, threshen, thresshen, tressyn, þreisshe, þresshe, from Old English þerscan, þrexan, from Proto-Germanic *þreskaną (“to thresh; to tread”), from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub, turn; to drill, pierce”). Doublet of thrash. 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: thrasshen, þerscan, *þreskaną, *terh₁-

Usage

Inflected Forms

Derived Forms

Phrases

Synonyms

Rhymes With

Questions

How do you pronounce thresh?
The recorded pronunciation is /θɹɛʃ/.
What does thresh mean?
To separate the grain from the straw or husks (chaff) by mechanical beating, with a flail or machinery, or by driving animals over them.
Where does thresh come from?
It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce thresh

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