thinken

thinken

Middle English

Alternative forms

• thenchen, thenken, thynken, thinke, think

Etymology

From Old English þenċan (“to think”)[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈθinkən/

Verb

thinken (third-person singular simple present thinketh, present participle thinkende, first-/third-person singular past indicative thought, past participle ithought)

1. To think, ponder; to deduce, figure out; to grasp, understand.
   • c. 1450, Prose Merlin

     And in the menewhile that thei thoughten upon these thinges that thei hadde seyn, the squyer com the thridde tyme and smote his lorde sorer than he hadde don before.

   • 1589, George Peele, An Eclogue Gratulatory

     And for their mistress, thoughten the two swains,

     They moughten never take too mickle pains;

2. To pray.
3. To conceive of, imagine.
4. To recall, remember.
5. To reach a conclusion, to decide, resolve; to accept, believe; to consider, regard.
6. To focus on, pay attention to.
7. To plot, scheme; to anticipate, expect.
   • c. 1500, The Turke and Sir Gawain

     All the giants thoughten then

     To have strucke out Sir Gawaines braine.

8. To be sorry.
9. To feel.

Conjugation

Conjugation of thinken (weak irregular)

infinitive	(to) thinken, thinke
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	thinke	thoughte
2nd-person singular	thinkest	thoughtest
3rd-person singular	thinketh	thoughte
subjunctive singular	thinke
imperative singular		—
plural1	thinken, thinke	thoughten, thoughte
imperative plural	thinketh, thinke	—
participles	thinkynge, thinkende	thought, ythought

¹Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.

Descendants

• English: think
• Scots: think, thynk

References

1. “thinken, v.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 1 December 2017.