thought

thought

English

A girl in thought

Alternative forms

• thowt (archaic)
• thaught (nonstandard)
• thot (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English thought, ithoȝt, from Old English þōht, ġeþōht, from Proto-West Germanic *þą̄ht, from Proto-Germanic *þanhtaz, *gaþanhtą (“thought”), from Proto-Indo-European *teng- (“to think”). Cognate with Scots thocht (“thought”), Saterland Frisian Toacht (“thought”), West Frisian dacht (“attention, regard, thought”), Dutch gedachte (“thought”), German Andacht (“reverence, devotion, prayer”), Icelandic þóttur (“thought”). Related to thank.

Pronunciation

• enPR: thôt
• (UK) IPA^(key): /θɔːt/

  • Audio (London)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːt
• (US) IPA^(key): /θɔt/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /θɑt/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• (Inland Northern American) IPA^(key): /θɒt/
• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): [θʰoːt]
• Homophone: thot (in accents with the cot-caught merger)

Noun

thought (countable and uncountable, plural thoughts)

1. (countable) Representation created in the mind without the use of one's faculties of vision, sound, smell, touch, or taste; an instance of thinking.

   The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., OCLC 222716698:

     I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed. And thus we came by a circuitous route to Mohair, the judge occupied by his own guilty thoughts, and I by others not less disturbing.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 4293071:

     He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […] , the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.

2. (uncountable) The operation by which mental activity arise or are manipulated; the process of thinking; the agency by which thinking is accomplished.

   Without freedom of thought there can be no such thing as wisdom, and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech.

   • a. 1983, Paul Fix (attributed quote)

     The only reason some people get lost in thought is because it’s unfamiliar territory.

3. (uncountable) A way of thinking (associated with a group, nation or region).

   Traditional eastern thought differs markedly from that of the west.

4. (uncountable, now dialectal) Anxiety, distress.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Matthew 6:27:

     Which of you by taking thought, can adde one cubite vnto his ſtature?

5. (uncountable) The careful consideration of multiple factors; deliberation.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:consideration

   After much thought, I have decided to stay.

6. A very small amount, distance, etc.; a whit or jot.
   • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide

     'Bide the night at Heriotside,' says he. 'It's a thought out of your way, but it's a comfortable bit.'

Derived terms

Terms derived from thought (noun)

• afterthought
• collect one's thoughts
• gather one's thoughts
• food for thought
• forethought
• freedom of thought
• misthought
• MTE (my thoughts exactly)
• netherthought
• on second thoughts
• penny for your thoughts
• perish the thought
• school of thought
• thought criminal
• thoughtful
• thought experiment
• thought leader
• thoughtless
• thought pattern
• thought police
• thought-provoking
• thought shower
• thoughtlet
• thoughty
• train of thought
• twithought

Translations

representation created in the mind

Afrikaans: gedink Albanian: mendim (sq) Arabic: فِكْر‎ (ar) m (fikr), فِكْرَة‎ (ar) f (fikra) Aragonese: please add this translation if you can Armenian: միտք (hy) (mitkʿ), գաղափար (hy) (gałapʿar) Assamese: please add this translation if you can Asturian: pensamientu m Avar: пикру (pikru) Aymara: please add this translation if you can Azerbaijani: düşüncə (az), fikir (az) Belarusian: ду́мка (be) f (dúmka), мысль f (myslʹ) Bengali: চিন্তা (bn) (cinta) Breton: please add this translation if you can Bulgarian: ми́съл (bg) f (mísǎl), иде́я (bg) f (idéja) Burmese: စိတ် (my) (cit), အကြံ (my) (a.kram) Catalan: pensament (ca) m Chechen: ойла (ojla) Cherokee: ᏁᎵᏍᎥ (nelisv) Chichewa: ganizo Chinese: Mandarin: 思想 (zh) (sīxiǎng), 思維／思维 (zh) (sīwéi), 想法 (zh) (xiǎngfǎ) Chukchi: чимгъун (čimgʺun) Corsican: please add this translation if you can Czech: myšlenka (cs) f Dalmatian: pinsamiant m Danish: tanke c Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can Dutch: gedachte (nl) f, idee (nl) n Esperanto: penso Estonian: mõte (et) Ewe: susu Extremaduran: please add this translation if you can Finnish: ajatus (fi), idea (fi) French: idée (fr) f, pensée (fr) f Friulian: please add this translation if you can Galician: pensamento (gl) m Georgian: აზრი (ka) (azri) German: Gedanke (de) m Gothic: 𐌼𐌹𐍄𐍉𐌽𐍃 f (mitōns) Greek: σκέψη (el) f (sképsi) Ancient: νόημα n (nóēma), φροντίς f (phrontís) Guaraní: temimo'ã Gujarati: વિચાર (vicār) Hausa: tunani Hawaiian: manaʻo Hebrew: מחשבה‎ (he) f (makhshavá) Higaonon: hunahuna Hindi: विचार (hi) m (vicār) Hungarian: gondolat (hu) Icelandic: hugmynd (is) f, hugsun (is) f Ido: penso (io) Igbo: echiche Indonesian: pikir (id), fikir (id), pikiran (id) Ingush: ийла (iila) Interlingua: pensata Irish: smaoineamh m Italian: idea (it) f, pensata (it) f Japanese: 考え (ja) (kangae), 意見 (ja) (iken), 考慮 (ja) (kōryo), 思考 (ja) (shikō), 思索 (ja) (shisaku), 意図 (ja) (ito) Javanese: panginten Kannada: ವಿಚಾರ (kn) (vicāra) Karaim: сагъыш Kazakh: ой (kk) (oi), пікір (kk) (pıkır) Khmer: គំនិត (km) (kumnɨt) Korean: 생각 (ko) (saenggak) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: hizir (ku), fikir (ku) Kyrgyz: ой (ky) (oy), пикир (ky) (pikir) Lao: ຄວາມຄຶດ (lo) (khuām khưt) Latgalian: guods m, dūms m, īguoda f Latin: idea, cōgitātiō f Latvian: doma f Lezgi: фикир (fikir) Lithuanian: mintis (lt) f Luganda: please add this translation if you can Luxembourgish: Gedanken m, Iddi f, Virstellung f Macedonian: мисла f (misla) Malay: fikiran (ms) Malayalam: ചിന്ത (ml) (cinta) Maltese: ħsieb m Manx: smooinaght m Maori: huatau Marathi: विचार m (vicār) Mirandese: pensamiento Mongolian: бодол (mn) (bodol), санаа (mn) (sanaa) Nepali: सोचविचार (socavicār) Northern Sami: jurdda Norwegian: Bokmål: tanke (no) m, tenkning m or f Nynorsk: tanke m, tenking f Occitan: pensament (oc) m Old Church Slavonic: Cyrillic: мꙑсль f (myslĭ), дума f (duma) Old East Slavic: мꙑсль f (myslĭ), дума f (duma) Old English: ġeþōht m Old Saxon: githaht Oriya: ବିଚାର (or) (bicarô), ଚିନ୍ତା (or) (cinta) Pashto: فکر‎ (ps) m (fékәr) Persian: فکر‎ (fa) (fekr), ایده‎ (fa) (ide) Polish: myśl (pl) f Portuguese: pensamento (pt) m, ideia (pt) Punjabi: ਸੋਚਿਆ (sociā) Rajasthani: please add this translation if you can Romanian: gând (ro) n, cuget (ro) n Russian: мысль (ru) f (myslʹ), ду́ма (ru) f (dúma), иде́я (ru) f (idéja) Scots: thocht, idea Scottish Gaelic: beachd m, dùil f, smaoin f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ми̑сао f Roman: mȋsao (sh) f Sicilian: idea, pinzata, raggiunamentu Sindhi: please add this translation if you can Sinhalese: කල්පනා (kalpanā) Slovak: myšlienka (sk) f Slovene: mȋsəł (sl) f Somali: fikrad Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: mysl f Southern Altai: сагыш (sagïš) Spanish: pensamiento (es) m Swahili: dhana (sw), wazo (sw) class 5/6, gezo (sw) Swedish: tanke (sv) Tabasaran: фикир (fikir) Tagalog: pag-iisip Tajik: фикр (tg) (fikr) Tamil: எண்ணம் (ta) (eṇṇam) Telugu: ఆలోచన (te) (ālōcana), తలపు (te) (talapu) Thai: ความคิด (th) (kwaam-kít) Tibetan: བསམས (bsams) Tocharian A: mem Tocharian B: maim, palskalñe Tok Pisin: tingting Turkish: düşünce (tr), fikir (tr) Turkmen: pikir, oý Ukrainian: ду́мка (uk) f (dúmka), мисль f (myslʹ), ми́сля f (mýslja) Urdu: وچار‎ (vicār) Uyghur: پىكىر‎ (pikir), ئوي‎ (oy) Uzbek: fikr (uz), oʻy (uz), xayol (uz) Vietnamese: tư duy (vi) (思維) Volapük: tikod (vo), (collective) tikodem Walloon: please add this translation if you can Welsh: meddwl (cy) Western Bukidnon Manobo: hena'hena' Xhosa: please add this translation if you can Yagnobi: фикр (fikr) Yiddish: געדאַנק‎ (gedank) Yoruba: ero Zazaki: fikr Zulu: umcabango (zu)

process

Arabic: فِكْر‎ (ar) m (fikr), تَفْكِير‎ m (tafkīr) Armenian: մտորում (hy) (mtorum), մտածմունք (hy) (mtacmunkʿ) Asturian: pensamientu m Azerbaijani: təfəkkür, düşünüş, fikir (az) Bulgarian: размисъл (bg) m (razmisǎl), мислене (bg) n (mislene) Catalan: pensament (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 思考 (zh) (sīkǎo), 考慮／考虑 (zh) (kǎolǜ) Czech: myšlení (cs) n Danish: tankevirksomhed c Esperanto: penseco, pensado Ewe: susu, tamebubu Finnish: ajattelu (fi) French: pensée (fr) f Galician: pensamento (gl) m Georgian: ფიქრი (pikri), აზროვნება (azrovneba) Greek: σκέψη (el) f (sképsi) Hebrew: מחשבות‎ f pl (makhshavót) Hindi: विचार (hi) m (vicār) Hungarian: gondolkodás (hu) Icelandic: hugsun (is) f Italian: pensiero (it) m Japanese: 考慮 (ja) (kōryo), 思考 (ja) (shikō), 思考力 (shikōryoku), 思索 (ja) (shisaku), 考え (ja) (kangae) Latin: cogitatio f, putatio f Latvian: domāšana f Lithuanian: mąstymas (lt) m Macedonian: мисла f (misla), мислење n (mislenje) Malay: pemikiran Malayalam: ചിന്ത (ml) (cinta), ആലോചന (ml) (ālōcana) Marathi: विचार n (vicār) Meru: mathuganio Mirandese: pensamiento Norwegian: Bokmål: tanke (no) m, tenkning m or f Nynorsk: tanke m, tenking f Old English: ġeþōht m Persian: اندیشه‎ (fa) (andishe), فِکر‎ (fa), تفکر‎ (fa) Plautdietsch: Bedenkjen n Polish: myśl (pl) f, pomysł (pl) m Portuguese: pensamento (pt) m Romanian: gândire (ro) f, cugetare (ro) f Russian: мысль (ru) f (myslʹ), мышле́ние (ru) n (myšlénije), рассужде́ние (ru) n (rassuždénije), размышле́ние (ru) n (razmyšlénije) Sicilian: pinzeri (scn) m Spanish: pensamiento (es) m Swahili: dhana (sw), fikira (sw) Swedish: tanke (sv), fundering (sv) Tajik: фикр (tg) (fikr), тафаккур (tafakkur) Tocharian A: mem Tocharian B: maim Turkish: düşünüş (tr), düşünme (tr) ǃXóõ: ǂʻán

way of thinking

Chinese: Mandarin: 思想 (zh) (sīxiǎng), 思想體系／思想体系 (zh) (sīxiǎng tǐxì), 意識形態／意识形态 (zh) (yìshí xíngtài), 思維模式／思维模式 (sīwéi móshì) Finnish: ajattelu (fi), ajatustapa (fi) Norwegian: Bokmål: tankegang m, tenkning m or f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Albanian: (please verify) mendim (sq) m Arabic: (please verify) فِكْرَة‎ (ar) f (fikra) Breton: (please verify) soñj (br) m Catalan: (please verify) pensament (ca) m Esperanto: (please verify) penso Ido: (please verify) penso (io), (please verify) pensajo (io) Korean: (please verify) 생각 (ko) (saenggak) Romanian: (please verify) gând (ro), (please verify) gandire Serbo-Croatian: (please verify) misao (sh) f Spanish: (please verify) pensamiento (es) m

Verb

thought

1. simple past tense and past participle of think

---

Middle English

Alternative forms

• thoughte, thougt, thouhte, thoute
• thogt, thohte, thogh

Etymology

From Old English þōht, from Proto-West Germanic *þą̄ht, from Proto-Germanic *þanhtaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /θɔxt/, /θɔu̯xt/

Noun

thought (plural thoughtes)

1. product of mental activity

Descendants

• English: thought
• Scots: thocht
• Yola: thaugkt

References

• “thought, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.