thirst

Etymology

The noun is inherited from Middle English thirst, earlier thurst,^[2][3] inherited from Old English þurst,^[4][5][6][7] inherited from Proto-West Germanic *þurstu,^[6][8] inherited from Proto-Germanic *þurstuz,^[5][9] formed with a noun suffix from the verbal stem *þurs-.^[5][3] It is cognate with Old Saxon thurst, Dutch dorst, Old High German durst (modern Durst), Old Norse þorsti (whence törst and tørst) and Gothic 𐌸𐌰𐌿𐍂𐍃𐍄𐌴𐌹 (þaurstei).^{[4][3][2][6][9]} The root is Proto-Indo-European *ters- (“to dry”),^[5][10][3] which also gave Latin torreō (“to parch, roast”), Ancient Greek τέρσομαι (térsomai, “to become dry”), Sanskrit तृष्यति (tṛ́ṣyati, “(he) thirsts”) and Old Irish tart (“thirst”);^[3][6][11] the underlying notion, as Ayto puts it, is of being dry.^[8] The verb is inherited from Middle English thirsten, inherited from Old English þyrstan, formed from the noun,^[4][5][3] and its i replaced the u of the noun in Middle English.^[3][12][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun þurst meant the painful feeling caused by want of drink already in Old English, in the medical texts known as the Leechdoms.^[4] The verb þyrstan is recorded before 899, in King Alfred's translation of Gregory's Pastoral Care, where it was used impersonally with the person in the accusative or dative, me thirsteth, "I am thirsty".^[3][4] Bosworth–Toller gives the noun in both its literal and figurative senses.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense of the verb, to long for something, was already Old English.^[5][4] The noun's figurative sense, a strong desire, is first recorded about 1175 in the Ormulum (Etymonline: about 1200).^[4][5] The impersonal me thirsteth went out of use by about 1440, and a transitive use, to desire something eagerly, lasted until 1718.^[4][14] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as the pain suffered for want of drink, quoting Denham's "they thirst for blood".^[15] The plain verb "to be thirsty" is now somewhat archaic.^[4] In late 20th-century American drug slang thirst was the craving for crack cocaine.^[16]

Timeline

• before 899 – verb þyrstan, in Alfred's Pastoral Care.^[3][4]
• Old English – noun þurst, the feeling caused by want of drink.^[4][7]
• c. 1175 – figurative, a strong desire.^[4]
• c. 1200 – the Middle English verb thirrsten, in the Ormulum.^[3]
• 1388 – thirsti, thirsty.^[3]
• 1440 – last record of impersonal me thirsteth.^[4]
• 1718 – last record of the transitive verb, to desire eagerly.^[4]
• 1998 – drug slang, the craving for crack cocaine.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A feeling of dryness in the mouth and throat together with a need to drink; also the bodily condition that causes it: After the long climb we had a terrible thirst.^[17][11][4]
2. A strong desire or craving: a thirst for adventure.^[17][11][4]

Verb

1. To feel thirst; to be thirsty.^[17][11][4]
2. To have a strong desire for something, usually with for or after.^[17][11][4]
3. (obsolete, Old English–1440) Used impersonally, me thirsteth, I am thirsty.^[4][14]

Word family

• thirster
• athirst
• thirsty
• unthirsting

Related words

• toast
• torrid
• torrent

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
8. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
14. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
17. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins