thousand English · revision 4082

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 725|origins=gem-pro *þūsundī}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈθaʊ.zənd/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|thousand]],^(AHD 2000)^(MWU 2024) [[inh|ang|þūsend]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[gem-pro|*þūsundī|alt=*thusundi]],^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) the source also of Old Saxon thūsundig, Old Frisian thūsend, Dutch duizend, Old High German dūsunt, German tausend, Old Norse þúsund and Gothic þūsundi.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) It is reconstructed as *thus-hund-, a compound meaning “swollen hundred, great hundred”,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Klein 1966) from [[ine-pro|*tewh₂-|alt=*teue-|t=to swell]], as in [[thigh]] and [[thumb]], and the word that gave [[hundred]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) It is also found in Balto-Slavic: Lithuanian tūkstantis, Old Church Slavonic tysęšta, Russian tysyacha.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) There is no general Indo-European word for thousand;^(Etymonline) its precise meaning may come from its use to translate Greek khilias and Latin mille.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old English þūsend about 725, in Beowulf, according to Barnhart;^(Barnhart 1988) about 893 in the OED.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From Old English it was also used for any large, indefinite number.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) ''Thousandth'' is from 1552.^(Barnhart 1988) The slang clipping ''thou'' is attested by 1867,^(Etymonline) ''Thousand Island dressing'' (1916) is presumably named after the Thousand Islands on the Saint Lawrence River,^(Etymonline) and the ''thousand-yard stare'', a blank, unfocused gaze, is military slang by 1943.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 725 – a thousand.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1000 – a large number.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1552 – ''thousandth''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1867 – ''thou''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1916 – ''Thousand Island dressing''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1943 – ''thousand-yard stare''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Numeral===

+ # The cardinal number equal to ten times one [[hundred]]; 1,000.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''thousands'' A very large number: ''thousands of people''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[thousandfold]]

+ * [[thousandth]]

+ * [[thousand-legger]]

+ * [[Thousand Islands]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[hundred]]

+ * [[thumb]]

+ * [[thigh]]

+ * [[thou]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}