thunder

See also: thundër

English

Etymology

From Middle English thunder, thonder, thundre, thonre, thunnere, þunre, from Old English þunor (“thunder”), from Proto-West Germanic *þunr, from Proto-Germanic *þunraz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ten-, *(s)tenh₂- (“to thunder”).

Compare astound, astonish, stun. Germanic cognates include West Frisian tonger, Dutch donder, German Donner, Old Norse Þórr (English Thor), Danish torden, Norwegian Nynorsk tore. Other cognates include Persian ‎ (tondar), Latin tonō, detonō, Ancient Greek στένω (sténō), στενάζω (stenázō), στόνος (stónos), Στέντωρ (Sténtōr), Irish torann, Welsh taran, Gaulish Taranis. Doublet of donner.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈθʌndə/
(General American) enPR: thŭn′dər, IPA^(key): /ˈθʌndɚ/
Audio (US) (file)
Audio (file)
Rhymes: -ʌndə(ɹ)
Hyphenation: thun‧der

Noun

thunder (countable and uncountable, plural thunders)

The loud rumbling, cracking, or crashing sound caused by expansion of rapidly heated air around a lightning bolt.
Thunder is preceded by lightning.
A deep, rumbling noise resembling thunder.
Off in the distance, he heard the thunder of hoofbeats, signalling a stampede.
An alarming or startling threat or denunciation.
- 1847, William H. Prescott, A History of the Conquest of Peru
  The thunders of the Vatican could no longer strike into the heart of princes.
(obsolete) The discharge of electricity; a thunderbolt.
- c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene i]:
  The revenging gods / 'Gainst parricides did all their thunders bend.
(figuratively) The spotlight.
Shortly after I announced my pregnancy, he stole my thunder with his news of landing his dream job.

Usage notes

roll, clap, peal are some of the words used to count thunder e.g. A series of rolls/claps/peals of thunder were heard

Derived terms

black thunder
blood and thunder
face like thunder
steal someone's thunder
thunder and lightning
thunderation
thunderbird
thunderbolt
thunderboomer
thunderbox
thunderclap
thundercloud
thunder cross
thunderfish
thunder god
thunder god vine
thunderhead
thunderless
thunder lizard
thunder mug
thunderous
thunderpeal
thunder pot
thunder rod
thundershower
thunder sleet
thunder snake
thundersquall
thunderstick
thunderstone
thunderstorm
thunderstrike
thunderstruck
thunder thighs
thunder tube
thunder-wheel
thundery

Descendants

Tagalog: tanda
Alemannic German: Thönder

Translations

sound caused by lightning

Abkhaz: aдыд (adəd)
Adyghe: шыблэ (šəble)
Albanian: bubullimë (sq) f, mumrimë f
Arabic: رَعْد‎ (ar) m (raʿd)
Egyptian Arabic: رعد‎ m (raʿd)
Hijazi Arabic: رعد‎ m (raʿad, raʿd)
Moroccan Arabic: رعد‎ m (raʿd)
Aramaic:
Classical Syriac: ܪܥܡܐ‎ m (raʿmā)
Armenian: որոտ (hy) (orot)
Assamese: ঢেৰেকনি (dherekoni), ঢেৰেক (dherek)
Asturian: troníu (ast) m, tronabríu (ast) m, tronada (ast) f, truenu (ast) m, renuberu (ast) m
Atayal: matus bisuw
Azerbaijani: göy gurultusu, ildırım (az)
Balinese: grudug
Belarusian: гром m (hrom)
Bengali: বজ্রধ্বনি (bôjrôdhẇni)
Bikol Central: dalugdog (bcl), daguldol (bcl)
Brunei Malay: guruh
Bulgarian: гръм (bg) m (grǎm)
Burmese: မိုးကြိုး (my) (mui:krui:)
Catalan: tro (ca) m
Cebuano: dalugdog
Chamicuro: tswali
Chechen: къовкъа (qʼowqʼa)
Cherokee: ᎠᏴᏓᏆᎶᏍᎬ (ayvdaqualosgv)
Chichewa: bingu
Chinese:
Cantonese: 雷 (leoi⁴), 雷聲, 雷声 (leoi⁴ sing¹), 雷鳴, 雷鸣 (leoi⁴ ming⁴)
Hakka: 雷 (lùi), 雷公 (lùi-kûng)
Mandarin: 雷 (zh) (léi), 雷聲／雷声 (zh) (léishēng), 雷鳴／雷鸣 (zh) (léimíng)
Min Dong: 雷公 (lài-gŭng)
Min Nan: 雷 (zh-min-nan) (lûi), 雷公 (zh-min-nan) (lûi-kong)
Wu: 雷 (le)
Chuvash: аслати (aslat̬i)
Czech: hrom (cs) m, zahřmění n
Dalmatian: tun m
Danish: torden (da) c
Dutch: donder (nl) m
Dzongkha: འབྲུག་སྐད ('brug skad)
Erzya: пургине (purgine)
Esperanto: tondro (eo)
Estonian: kõu
Even: агди (agʒi)
Evenki: агды (agdi)
Faroese: tora f
Finnish: jyrinä (fi), jyrähdys (fi)
Franco-Provençal: tonêrro m
French: tonnerre (fr) m
Friulian: ton, tonade
Galician: trono (gl) m, tróo m, bruio m, orzán m, trouso m, trebón (gl) m
Georgian: ქუხილი (kuxili), ჭექა-ქუხილი (č̣eka-kuxili)
German: Donner (de) m
Gothic: 𐌸𐌴𐌹𐍈𐍉 f (þeiƕō)
Greek: βροντή (el) f (vrontí)
Greenlandic: kalleq
Guaraní: sunu
Haitian Creole: loray
Hausa: tarnatsa
Hebrew: רַעַם‎ (he) m (ra'am)
Higaonon: lugung
Hindi: गरज (hi) f (garaj), गड़गड़ाहट (hi) f (gaṛagṛāhaṭ), राद (hi) (rād), गर्जन (hi) m (garjan)
Hungarian: mennydörgés (hu), égzengés (hu)
Icelandic: þruma (is) f
Ido: tondro (io)
Indonesian: guntur (id), guruh (id)
Interlingua: tonitro
Iranun: dalendeg
Irish: toirneach (ga) m
Italian: tuono (it) m
Japanese: 雷 (ja) (かみなり, kaminari), 雷鳴 (ja) (らいめい, raimei)
Javanese: bledhèg, gludhug (jv)
Kazakh: күн күркіреу (kk) (kün kürkıreu), күркіреу (kürkıreu)
Khmer: ផ្គរ (km) (pkɔɔ)
Komi-Zyrian: гым (gym)
Korean: 우레 (ure), 천둥 (ko) (cheondung)
Kott: ajak
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: birûsk (ku)
Kyrgyz: күркүрөө (kürküröö)
Lao: ຟ້າຮ້ອງ (lo) (fā hǭng)
Latgalian: pārkiuņs
Latin: tonus m, tonitrus m, tonitruum n
Latvian: pērkons m
Lezgi: гургум (gurgum)
Limburgish: dónder (li) n
Lithuanian: griaustinis
Luxembourgish: Dimmer m, Donner m
Macedonian: гром (mk) m (grom)
Maguindanao: dalendeg
Malagasy: ampy (mg)
Malay: guruh, guntur
Malayalam: ഇടി (ml) (iṭi)
Maltese: ragħad m
Manchu: ᠠᡴᠵᠠᠨ (akjan)
Mansaka: rugung
Manx: taarnagh m
Maore Comorian: guguma
Maori: whaitiri
Maranao: dalendeg, rogong
Mari:
Eastern Mari: кӱдырчӧ (küdyrčö)
Western Mari: хӹдӹртӹш (hÿdÿrtÿš)
Mon: ဓဂဵု
Mongolian: аянга (mn) (ajanga)
Nanai: агди
Navajo: iiʼniʼ
Ngarrindjeri: munti
Northern Sami: baján
Northern Thai: ᨼ᩶ᩣᩁᩬ᩶ᨦ
Norwegian:
Bokmål: torden (no) m
Nynorsk: tore f
Nyunga: koondarnangor
Occitan: tron (oc) m, tronada m
Old English: þunor m
Old High German: donar
Old Norse: þórr m
Oriya: ଗର୍ଜନ (or) (gôrjônô)
Oromo: bakakkaa
Ossetian: ӕрвнӕрын (ærvnæryn)
Persian: تندر‎ (fa) (tondar), رعد‎ (fa) (ra'd)
Plautdietsch: Donna
Polish: grzmot (pl) m, grom (pl) m (dated, poetic)
Portuguese: trovão (pt) m
Quechua: q'aqya
Rhine Franconian: Dunner
Romagnol: tràun m
Romanian: tunet (ro) n
Romansch: tun m, tung m
Russian: гром (ru) m (grom)
Rusyn: грум m (hrum)
Samoan: fai'titili, ta'alili
Sanskrit: गर्जन (sa) n (garjana)
Sardinian: tronu
Scots: thunner
Scottish Gaelic: tàirneanach m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: гром m, грмљавина f
Roman: grom (sh) m, grmljavina (sh) f
Shan: ၽႃႉလင် (phâ̰a lǎng)
Sicilian: tronu (scn) m
Sidamo: banqo
Sinhalese: විදුලි කෙටීම (widuli keṭīma)
Slovak: hrom (sk) m
Slovene: grom (sl) m, grmenje n
Somali: onkod (so)
Sorbian:
Upper Sorbian: hrimanje n
Southern Altai: кӱркӱреш (kürküreš)
Spanish: trueno (es) m
Sundanese: guludug (su)
Swahili: (nc 9/10) ^{(please verify)} radi (sw)
Swedish: åska (sv) c, (åsk) smäll c, dunder (sv) c
Tabasaran: гургум (gurgum)
Tagalog: kulog
Tai Dam: ꪡ꫁ꪱꪵꪠ꫁ (ꞌphạ phẻ)
Tajik: тундар (tundar), раъд (tg) (raʾd)
Tamil: இடி (ta) (iṭi)
Taos: nąłàcit’ə́otuna
Tausug: daugdug
Telugu: ఉరుము (te) (urumu)
Tetum: rai-tarutu
Thai: ฟ้าร้อง (th) (fáa-rɔ́ɔng)
Tibetan: ལྡིར་སྒྲ (ldir sgra)
Turkish: gök gürültüsü (tr), yıldırım (tr)
Turkmen: ýyldyrym
Tutelo: tuhangrua
Tuvan: диңмирээшкин (diñmireeşkin)
Udmurt: гудыри (gudyri)
Ugaritic: 𐎗𐎓𐎚 (rʿt)
Ukrainian: грім m (hrim)
Urdu: گرج‎ f (garaj), گڑگڑاہٹ‎ f (gaṛgaṛāhaṭ), رعد‎ m (raʿd)
Uzbek: momaqaldiroq (uz)
Venetian: ton (vec) m
Vietnamese: sấm (vi)
Volapük: töt
Walloon: tonire (wa) f, tonoere (wa) f
Waray-Waray: dalugdog
Welsh: taranau f pl, tyrfau m pl, trystau m pl
West Flemish: dunder m
West Frisian: tonger
Western Bukidnon Manobo: ruɣung
Westrobothnian: Thorn m
Winnebago: kʼoo
Yakut: этиҥ (etiŋ)
Yámana: kalaša
Zazaki: gumlerz
Zhuang: byajraez

sound resembling thunder

Armenian: որոտ (hy) (orot)
Bulgarian: гърмеж (bg) m (gǎrmež)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 轟鳴／轰鸣 (zh) (hōngmíng)
Czech: zahřmění n, hromová rána f, hřmění (cs) n
Dutch: gedonder (nl) m
Finnish: jyrinä (fi), jyrähtely (fi)
Galician: balbordo m, trouso m
German: Donnern (de) n
Greek: κεραυνός (el) m (keravnós)
Hungarian: dörgés (hu)
Italian: rombo (it) m, schianto (it) m, boato (it) m
Japanese: 雷鳴 (ja) (らいめい, raimei)
Polish: grzmot (pl) m
Portuguese: trovoada (pt) f
Rhine Franconian: Dunner
Russian: гром (ru) m (grom), гро́хот (ru) m (gróxot)
Scottish Gaelic: tàirneanach m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: тутањ m
Roman: tutanj (sh) m
Slovene: grmenje n
Swedish: åskmuller (sv) n, muller (sv) n, åskdån n, dån (sv) n

deep, rumbling noise

Bulgarian: грохот (bg) (grohot)
Czech: hřmění (cs) n, dunění (cs) n
Dutch: gerommel (nl) n
Finnish: jyrinä (fi), jylinä (fi), pauhu
Galician: estoiro m, estrondo m, estourea f, balbordo m, bruiamento m, abousamento m
German: Donnern (de) n
Hungarian: robaj (hu)
Irish: tormán m
Italian: fragore (it) m, frastuono (it) m
Japanese: 轟音 (ja) (ごうおん, gōon)
Kott: ajak
Polish: grzmot (pl) m
Portuguese: estrondo (pt) m
Rhine Franconian: Dunner
Russian: ро́кот (ru) m (rókot)
Scottish Gaelic: tàirneanach m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: тутњава f, тутњавина f
Roman: tutnjava (sh) f, tutnjavina f
Slovene: grmenje n
Spanish: estruendo (es) m, fragor (es) m
Swedish: mullrande (sv) n, dån (sv) n

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

Arabic: ^{(please verify)} رَعْد‎ (ar) m (raʿd)
Breton: ^{(please verify)} kurun (br) f, ^{(please verify)} taran (br) m
Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} tondro (eo)
Guaraní: ^{(please verify)} sunu
Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} gelegar (id), ^{(please verify)} suara petir , ^{(please verify)} suara halilintar
Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} tonitro
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} birûsk (ku) f
Rwanda-Rundi: ^{(please verify)} inkuba
Telugu: ^{(please verify)} ఉరుము (te) (urumu)
Thai: ^{(please verify)} สายฟ้า (th) (sǎai-fáa)
Tupinambá: ^{(please verify)} tupã sununga

Verb

thunder (third-person singular simple present thunders, present participle thundering, simple past and past participle thundered)

(impersonal) To produce thunder; to sound, rattle, or roar, as a discharge of atmospheric electricity.
It thundered continuously.
(intransitive) To make a noise like thunder.
The train thundered along the tracks.
(ergative) To (make something) move very fast (with loud noise).
- 1983, David Sylvian (lyrics), Ryuichi Sakamoto (music), “Forbidden Colours”, in Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, performed by David Sylvian:
  Senseless years thunder by / Millions are willing to give their lives for you / Does nothing live on?
(intransitive, transitive) To say (something) with a loud, threatening voice.
"Get back to work at once!", he thundered.
To produce something with incredible power.
- 2011 January 19, Jonathan Stevenson, “Leeds 1 - 3 Arsenal”, in BBC‎:
  Just as it appeared Arsenal had taken the sting out of the tie, Johnson produced a moment of outrageous quality, thundering a bullet of a left foot shot out of the blue and into the top left-hand corner of Wojciech Szczesny's net with the Pole grasping at thin air.

Conjugation

Conjugation of thunder

infinitive	(to) thunder
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	thunder	thundered
2nd-person singular	thunder, thunderest^†	thundered, thunderedst^†
3rd-person singular	thunders, thundereth^†	thundered
plural	thunder	thundered

subjunctive	thunder	thundered

imperative	thunder	—

participles	thundering	thundered

^†Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms

(to say something with a loud, threatening voice): thunderer

Translations

to make a noise like thunder

Arabic: رَعَدَ‎ (ar) (raʿada)
Aramaic:
Classical Syriac: ܪܥܡ‎ (rəʿem)
Atayal: mu’ bicyu
Breton: ^{(please verify)} ober kurun , ^{(please verify)} taranal, ^{(please verify)} taraniñ
Bulgarian: гърмя (bg) (gǎrmja)
Catalan: tronar (ca)
Cherokee: ᎠᏴᏓᏆᎶᎠ (ayvdaqualoa)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 行雷 (haang⁴ leoi⁴)
Hakka: 打雷公 (tá-lùi-kûng)
Mandarin: 打雷 (zh) (dǎléi)
Min Nan: 霆雷公 (tân-lûi-kong)
Czech: hřmít (cs)
Dalmatian: tonur
Dutch: donderen (nl)
Esperanto: tondri
Finnish: jyristä (fi), jyrähdellä (fi), jyrähtää (fi), pauhata (fi)
French: tonner (fr)
Friulian: tonâ
Galician: toar (gl)
German: donnern (de)
Alemannic German: tschättere
Hebrew: רעם‎ (he) (ra'am)
Hindi: राद (hi) (rād), गरजना (hi) (garajnā)
Icelandic: þrymja
Ido: tondrar (io)
Italian: tuonare (it)
Japanese: (it thunders) 雷が鳴る (かみなりがなる, kaminari ga naru), (to make a noise like thunder) 轟音を立てる (gōon o tateru)
Korean: 천둥이 울리다 (cheondung'i ullida)
Latin: tono
Luxembourgish: donneren
Manchu: ᠠᡴᠵᠠᠮᠪᡳ (akjambi)
Norwegian: tordne
Occitan: tronar (oc)
Polish: grzmieć (pl), zagrzmieć
Portuguese: trovoar (pt), trovejar (pt)
Romanian: tuna (ro)
Romansch: tunar, tuner
Russian: греме́ть (ru) impf (gremétʹ), грохота́ть (ru) impf (groxotátʹ), громыха́ть (ru) impf (gromyxátʹ)
Sanskrit: स्तनति (stanati)
Sardinian: tronai, tronare
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: гр̀мети impf
Roman: gr̀meti (sh) impf
Slovene: grmeti
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: grimaś impf
Upper Sorbian: hrimać
Spanish: tronar (es)
Swedish: dundra (sv), dåna (sv), åska (sv)
Thai: สายฟ้าฟาด (săaifáa fâat)
Tibetan: འབྲུག་སྐད་རྒྱག ('brug skad rgyag)
Venetian: tonàre
Welsh: taranu (cy)
West Frisian: daverje
Westrobothnian: toor

to talk with a loud, threatening voice

Breton: taranal, taraniñ
Bulgarian: говоря гръмогласно (govorja grǎmoglasno)
Czech: hřmít (cs), hromovat
Dutch: overdonderen (nl)
Finnish: jyristä (fi), pauhata (fi)
French: tonitruer (fr)
Japanese: 怒鳴る (どなる, donaru)
Korean: 고함치다 (gohamchida)
Polish: gromić
Portuguese: trovejar (pt)
Romanian: tuna (ro)

transitive: say something with a loud, threatening voice

Finnish: jyristä (fi)
French: tonitruer (fr)
Japanese: 怒鳴る (どなる, donaru)
Romanian: tuna (ro)

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

Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} tondri
German: ^{(please verify)} donnern (de)
Guaraní: ^{(please verify)} sunu
Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} gelegar (id)
Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} tonar
Latin: ^{(please verify)} tonare
Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} tordne
Thai: ^{(please verify)} ฟ้าผ่า (th) (fáapàa)
Tupinambá: ^{(please verify)} sunung

Middle English

Noun

thunder

Alternative form of thonder