thickness English · revision 39849

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=Old English}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈθɪknəs/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|thiknesse]],^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(Dictionary.com 2016) [[inh|ang|þicnes|t=density; depth; thicket]],^(Etymonline)^(OED 2026)^(ODE 2010) formed [[af|ang|þicce|-nes]], that is from the adjective [[thick]] and the suffix [[-ness]].^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002) The OED compares [[goh|diknissa]].^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In Old English the noun meant density or viscosity, hardness, and depth as opposed to length or breadth, and also anything thick or heavy, darkness, or a thicket.^(Etymonline) The OED's earliest Old English uses include bulk, the third dimension of an object, the consistency of a liquid, and haze or darkness of the air.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Most of the senses were already present in Old English.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) Stoutness of the body is recorded from the late 14th century,^(Etymonline) and the closeness of things growing or crowded together from 1398, in Trevisa.^(OED 2026) A sense of indistinct speech or dull hearing is recorded from 1538.^(OED 2026) Johnson (1755) defined it as density, the quantity of matter interposed, and a layer laid on another.^(Johnson 1755) The concrete sense, a layer of cloth, paper or the like, is dated from 1815,^(OED 2026) and a back-formed verb, to plane boards to an even thickness, from 1978.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Old English – density; depth; bulk; a thick part.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+ * late 14th century – stoutness of body.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1398 – closeness, crowdedness.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1538 – indistinctness of speech or hearing.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1815 – a layer.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1978 – the verb, to plane to an even thickness.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The state or quality of being [[thick]].^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # The distance through an object, as distinct from its [[length]] and [[width]]: ''The ice was only a few centimetres in thickness.''^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # The [[density]] or [[viscosity]] of a liquid, smoke, hair or the like.^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)

+ # A [[layer]] of something: ''three thicknesses of cardboard''.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To make boards or planks of a uniform thickness.^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[thick]]

+ * [[thicken]]

+ * [[thicket]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}