through

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English thurgh, also thurh and throu,^[2][3][4][5] inherited from Old English þurh, also þuruh,^[2][3][6][7] inherited from Proto-Germanic *þurhw.^[1][2] Forms such as thruh arose by metathesis of r and the vowel about 1300 and became standard in the 15th century, from Caxton on.^[6][8][9][3] Its cognates are Old Frisian thruch, Old Saxon thuru, Middle Dutch dore, Dutch door, Old High German duruh, German durch and Gothic 𐌸𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌷 (þairh);^[2][3][5] the word is not found in Scandinavian.^[3] Hoad and Klein connect the Gothic form with 𐌸𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌺𐍉 (þairkō, “hole”) and Old English þȳrel (“hole”).^[6][5] Outside Germanic it is related to Latin trāns (“across, beyond”) and Old Irish tre (“through”),^[3][6][5][4] from Proto-Indo-European *terə- (“to cross over, pass through”),^[2][7] which Barnhart and Klein give as *ter-.^[3][5] The disyllabic form þuruh developed into thorough, which became the adjective while through remained the preposition and adverb.^[3][10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

From one side or end of something to the other: in Old English, in the West Saxon Gospels.^[12] Barnhart dates Old English þurh to about 750, in Cynewulf's Elene, and the Middle English thurh to about 1175.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From the start the preposition covered passage from one side to the other, movement among things, and spread over the whole of a place, all recorded in Old English.^[12] From about 1430, in Chaucer, it was used of a sound or of cold that pierces, and since 1526 of passing through a machine or process.^[12] The phrase through and through, entirely, is recorded from the early 15th century, and to be through, to be finished, from the late 15th.^[2] Johnson (1755) illustrated the adverb with Shakespeare's blow you through and through.^[13] As an adjective it meant complete or thorough from 1458, and since 1523 or the 1520s clear and unobstructed;^[12][14][2] the railway age gave through train (1840) and through ticket (1841), after through traffic and travellers (1828).^[12] The sense "up to and including", as in Monday through Friday, is recorded from 1798 and was noted by the OED as American.^[2][15] The spelling thro was common from the 15th to the 18th century, and the reformed spelling thru, from 1839, is used mainly in America.^[2] Of a telephone caller, through meant connected by 1929.^[2] In American slang it has meant annoyed or disgusted (1990) and drunk or high to the point of collapse (1992).^[16]

Timeline

• Old English – from one side of something to the other; among; all over.^[12]
• c. 1300 – forms such as thruh appear.^[6][8]
• c. 1430 – of a piercing sound or extreme cold.^[12]
• early 15th century – through and through, entirely.^[2]
• 1458 – adjective, complete, thorough.^[12]
• late 15th century – to be through, to be finished.^[2]
• 1526 – into and out of a machine or process.^[12]
• 1798 – up to and including.^[2]
• 1828 – adjective, of traffic or travellers going all the way.^[12]
• 1839 – the spelling thru.^[2]
• 1840 – a through train.^[12]
• 1929 – of a telephone call, connected.^[2]

Meanings

Preposition

1. Into at one side and out at the other side of: The cat squeezed through the gap in the fence.^[17][4][15]
2. Among or between; here and there in: We wandered through the old town.^[17][15]
3. By means of; by the agency of: She found the job through a friend.^[17][15]
4. Because of; on account of: He failed through laziness.^[17][15]
5. From the beginning to the end of; during: They talked through the night.^[17][15]
6. Finished with, especially successfully: We're through the worst of it.^[17][15]
7. (chiefly US) Up to and including: Tuesday through Saturday.^[17][15][2]
8. Past without stopping for: to drive through a red light.^[17][4]

Adverb

1. From one side or end to the other: The guard opened the gate and waved us through.^[17][4]
2. From beginning to end; to the end: She read the report through.^[17][4]
3. Completely; thoroughly: We were soaked through.^[17][4]
4. All the way to a destination: This bus goes through to the airport.^[17][4]

Adjective

1. Going from start to destination without stops or changes: a through train.^[17][4][12]
2. Allowing continuous passage; unobstructed: a through road.^[17][4]
3. Passing from one side or surface to the other: a through bolt.^[17][4][12]
4. Finished; having no further dealings: I'm through with him.^[17][4][15]
5. No longer useful or successful; washed-up: As a singer she was through.^[17][4]

Word family

• throughway
• through street

Related words

• thorough
• throughout
• thrill
• trans-

Usage notes

The sense "up to and including" (Monday through Friday) is chiefly American.^[15][2] The reformed spelling thru is also mainly American.^[2] In Scotland and the north of England through (also thruch, thruff) was also a flat tombstone;^[18][4] this noun has a separate source, Old English þrūh (“pipe, trough, coffin”), related to Old Norse þró (“trough”).^[12][4][8]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
17. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
18. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)