trough
/tɹɔθ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.43 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A short, narrow canal designed to hold water until it drains or evaporates.
Example Sentences
- "One of Harriet's chores was to slop the pigs' trough each morning and evening."
- "Now, covered concrete troughs to house the cables are laid parallel with the railway lines, cheapening maintenance because of improved accessibility for inspection and repair."
- "It just clips on the front of the stage without any special trough, has no great power and occupies only one dimmer, […]"
- "Ernest threw his paint brushes into a kind of trough he had fashioned from sheet metal that he kept in the sink."
- "There was a small trough that the sump pump emptied into; it was filled with mosquito larvae."
- "The troughs were filled with leaves and needed clearing."
Etymology
PIE word *dóru From Middle English trogh, from Old English troh, trog (“a trough, tub, basin, vessel for containing liquids or other materials”), from Proto-West Germanic *trog, from Proto-Germanic *trugą, *trugaz, from Proto-Indo-European *drukós, enlargement of *dóru (“tree”). See also West Frisian trôch, Dutch trog, German Trog, Danish trug, Swedish tråg; also Middle Irish drochta (“wooden basin”), Old Armenian տարգալ (targal, “ladle, spoon”). More at tree.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /tɹɔθ/
- British English: /tɹɒf/