Etymologically
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thread

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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

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