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thunderbolt

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Etymology and origin of the English word thunderbolt

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
c. 1440 Alphabet of Tales
Ultimate origin
Old English þunor,bolt
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English thunder
English thunderbolt
From the same root
English thunderstorm ← thunder

Pronunciation

  • /ˈθʌndə(ɹ)ˌboʊlt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English thonder-bolte, also thondre bolte,[2][3] formed from English thunder + bolt,[4][5][6] with bolt in its sense "arrow, projectile".[5][7] The first element goes back to Old English þunor (“thunder, thunderclap; the god Thor”) and Proto-Germanic *þunraz,[5] the second to bolt (“short, stout arrow”) and *bultaz.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A supposed bolt or dart believed to be the destructive agent in a flash of lightning, or the flash itself imagined as a missile: about 1440, in the Alphabet of Tales.[4] Etymonline dates the word to the mid-15th century.[5]

Semantic evolution

The word was at first used especially of the imaginary bolt or shaft hurled by Zeus or Jupiter.[5][6] From 1728 it was also used for its representation as the emblem of a god or as a heraldic bearing.[4][6] Johnson (1755) defined it as lightning, "the arrows of heaven".[7] Figurative use for something destructive or startling, at first an awful denunciation or threat from a high authority, is recorded from 1559;[4][6] today it is especially a sudden piece of startling news.[6][8] From 1593 it was applied to a person who acts with furious, irresistible energy,[4][5][6] and since 1959, in sport, to a fast, hard-struck shot.[4][6] Because lightning was thought to leave a solid bolt, the name was given locally to flint tools (1618), meteorites (1802), belemnite fossils (1862) and lumps of iron pyrites;[4] Merriam-Webster also names stone hatchets and arrowheads.[2] and in dialect to plants such as the corn poppy (1847) and the bladder and white campions (1886).[4] The verb, to strike with or as with a thunderbolt, is recorded before 1586, in Sidney's Arcadia;[4] Merriam-Webster labels it dialectal British.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1440 – a bolt thought to be the destructive agent in lightning; a flash of lightning.[4]
  • 1559 – figuratively, something destructive or startling, as a threat from authority.[4]
  • before 1586 – verb, to strike with or as with a thunderbolt.[4]
  • 1593 – a person of violent, irresistible energy.[4] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1590s.[5]
  • 1618 – a flint celt or similar prehistoric implement.[4]
  • 1728 – the thunderbolt as an emblem of a god or in heraldry.[4]
  • 1802 – a meteorite.[4]
  • 1847 – the corn poppy.[4]
  • 1862 – a belemnite or other fossil.[4]
  • 1959 – in sport, a fast, hard-struck shot.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A flash of lightning together with its clap of thunder.[8][2][6]
  2. An imagined missile thought to be hurled to earth in a lightning flash; in mythology, the weapon of gods such as Zeus or Thor.[8][2][4]
  3. A representation of this as an emblem or a heraldic bearing.[4][6]
  4. Something sudden, shocking or devastating, such as startling news: The resignation came as a thunderbolt.[8][6][4]
  5. A person who acts with violent, irresistible energy.[4][6]
  6. (sport) A fast, hard-struck shot.[6][4]
  7. A stone, such as a flint tool, a belemnite or a meteorite, once believed to have fallen with lightning; a thunderstone.[2][4]

Verb

  1. (dialectal, British) To strike with a thunderbolt.[2][4]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  8. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
Cite this entry

“Thunderbolt.” Etymologically, 2 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/thunderbolt. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

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