thread

Pronunciation

• IPA: /θred/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English threde, inherited from Old English þrǣd (“fine cord, especially when twisted”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *þrēduz “twisted yarn”, the source also of Dutch draad and German Draht “wire”,^[2][3][5] probably from Proto-Indo-European *tere- (“to rub, turn”).^[2] It is related to Old English þrāwan “to twist”, the source of throw.^[2][3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A fine cord of spun fibres of flax, cotton or silk: about 725 in the OED, before 800 in Barnhart.^[7][3]

Semantic evolution

Each of the yarns forming the warp and weft of a fabric is from about 1200.^[7][5] That which runs through the whole course of something, as an argument, is by the 1640s,^[2] and a single element in a composite whole by 1836.^[2][7] The spiral ridge of a screw is from the 1670s.^[2] Hang by a thread goes back to the 16th century and the story of the sword of Damocles.^[6] The verb, to pass a thread through a needle, is from the mid-14th century,^[2][3] of sewing machines by 1873, and of film in cameras from 1913.^[2] Threadbare is from before 1376, in Piers Plowman.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 725 – a fine cord.^[7]
• c. 1200 – a yarn in a fabric.^[7]
• mid-14th century – verb.^[2]
• 1640s – a connecting line of thought.^[2]
• 1670s – the thread of a screw.^[2]
• 1913 – to thread film.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A long thin strand of cotton, silk or other fibre used in sewing.
2. A thin line or strand of something.
3. An idea or theme connecting the parts of a story or argument.
4. The spiral ridge around a screw.

Verb

1. To pass a thread through the eye of a needle.
2. To move carefully through a crowded place.
3. To put beads or similar things on a thread.

Word family

• threader
• threadless
• threadlike
• goldthread
• misthread
• packthread
• threadfin
• threadfish

Related words

• threadbare
• throw

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 h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press