thorough

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈθʌr.ə/, US /ˈθɝː.oʊ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English þuruh (about 1000), a stressed two-syllable variant of þurh, through (see through),^[2][3][4][5] paralleled in Old Saxon thuru(h) and Old High German duruh.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a preposition and adverb, from side to side or end to end, through: about 1000;^[6] as an adjective, fully done, complete, 1300.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Through and thorough were at first simply two forms of the same word,^[5][3] and thorough still survives archaically in the senses of through, as in thoroughfare (about 1385, in Chaucer).^[2][4] The adjective, carried out in every detail, dates from the late 15th century,^[5][7] and Etymonline dates thorough, perfect, complete, from the mid-13th century.^[3] Thoroughbred is from 1701 and thoroughgoing from 1819, in Scott.^[2] In English history Thorough was the uncompromising policy of Strafford and Laud under Charles I.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – þuruh, through.^[6]
• 1300 – complete (adjective).^[2]
• c. 1385 – thoroughfare.^[2]
• late 15th century – carried out in detail.^[5]
• 1701 – thoroughbred.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Complete and careful, leaving nothing out: a thorough search.
2. Painstakingly accurate or careful.
3. Utter; absolute: a thorough nuisance.

Word family

• thoroughly
• thoroughness
• superthorough
• thoroughbrace
• thoroughpaced
• thoroughwort
• unthorough
• thoroughbred

Related words

• through
• thoroughfare

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins