teach
/ˈtiːt͡ʃ/
teach verb: to pass on knowledge to.
Verb
teach (third-person singular simple present teaches, present participle teaching, simple past and past participle taught)
- To pass on knowledge to.
- Can you teach me to sew? Can you teach sewing to me?
- To pass on knowledge generally, especially as one's profession; to act as a teacher.
- She used to teach at university.
- Antonyms:
- learn
- To cause (someone) to learn or understand (something).
- The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again;[…]. Now she had come to look upon the matter in its true proportions, and her anticipation of a possible chance of teaching him a lesson was a pleasure...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
- Deep Blue taught us a great deal about the power of the human mind precisely because it could not reproduce the intuitive and logical leaps of Kasparov’s mind. A truly synthetic cell, built from scratch or even from preexisting components, will be a cell without ancestry, and it, too, will teach us...2013 September-October, Rob Dorit, “Making Life from Scratch”, in American Scientist
- To cause to know the disagreeable consequences of some action.
- I'll teach you to make fun of me!
- To show (someone) the way; to guide, conduct; to point, indicate.
- ‘The bliss is there’, mumbled the old man and taught to Heaven.
- c1450, Mandeville's Travelsː
Blessed God of might (the) most.. teach us the right way unto that bliss that lasteth aye.
Noun
teach (plural teaches)
Proper noun (1) capitalized: Teach
Teach
Proper noun (2) capitalized: Teach
Teach
- A surname. Most commonly associated with the pirate Blackbeard, who gave his real name as Edward Teach, Thatch, or Tack.
teach meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
teach in Hindi
- to pass on knowledge
- सिखाना sikhānā, शिक्षा देना śikṣā denā, पढ़ाना paṛhānā
- to pass on one's knowledge as one's profession
- पढ़ाना paṛhānā
teach in Tamil
- to pass on knowledge
- கற்பி kaṟpi, சொல்லிக்கொடு collikkoṭu, சொல்லித்தா collittā, கற்றுக்கொடு kaṟṟukkoṭu, கற்றுத்தா kaṟṟuttā
teach in Marathi
- to teach
- शिकवणे śikavṇe
teach in Urdu
- to pass on knowledge
- سکھانا sikhānā, پڑھانا paṛhānā
- to pass on one's knowledge as one's profession
- پڑھانا paṛhānā
More languagesFewer languages
- teach in Bengali
- শেখান śekhan
- teach in Telugu
- బోధించు bōdhiñcu, నేర్పు nērpu
- teach in Malayalam
- പഠിപ്പിക്കുക paṭhippikkuka, അഭ്യസിപ്പിക്കുക abhyasippikkuka, ശിക്ഷണം നൽകുക śikṣaṇaṁ nalkuka
- teach in Kannada
- ಕಲಿಸು kalisu
- teach in Punjabi
- ਸਿਖਾਉਣਾ sikhāuṇā
- teach in Gujarati
- શીખવવું śīkhavvũ, ભણાવવું bhaṇāvvũ
- teach in Odia
- ଶିକ୍ଷା ଦେବା śikṣā debā
- teach in Sanskrit
- उपदिशति upadiśati, शास्ति śāsti
- teach in Assamese
- শিকোৱা xiküa, পঢ়োৱা porhüa
- teach in Nepali
- सिकाउनु sikāunu
- teach in Arabic
- عَلَّمَ ʕallama
- teach in Malay
- mengajar
- teach in Indonesian
- ajar, mengajar, mengajari
- teach in Persian
- یاد دادن درس دادن yâd dâdan, آموزاندن âmuzândan, نمایاندن nemâyândan
- teach in Thai
- สอน sɔ̌ɔn
- teach in Vietnamese
- dạy, dạy học, dạy bảo, dạy dỗ
- teach in Myanmar
- သင် sang, ပညာပေး pa.nyape:
Examples of teach in a sentence
- Now she had come to look upon the matter in its true proportions, and her anticipation of a possible chance of teaching him a lesson was a pleasure to behold.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company...
- In Episode 3, Gia incorporates very distinct and strong gestures as she teaches Havelock the phrase, "Unte kowlting gut, to pochuye ke?" ("And everything will be okay, understand?")2016 January 15, Bryan Enk, “Belter Creole 101”, in SYFY:
Synonyms of teach
Antonyms
Forms of teach
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | teaches |
| present participle | teaching |
| past participle | taught |
| past | taught |
| second-person singular present (archaic) | teachest |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | taughtest |
| third-person singular present (archaic) | teacheth |
| Noun | |
| plural | teaches |
Origin of teach
From Middle English techen, from Old English tǣċan (“to show, declare, demonstrate; teach, instruct, train; assign, prescribe, direct; warn; persuade”), from Proto-West Germanic *taikijan, from Proto-Germanic *taikijaną (“to show”), from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to show”). Cognate with Scots tech, teich (“to teach”), German zeigen (“to show, point out”), zeihen (“accuse, blame”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍄𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌰𐌽 (gateihan, “to announce, declare, tell, show, display”), Latin dīcō (“speak, say, tell”), Ancient Greek δείκνυμι (deíknumi, “show, point out, explain, teach”), Sanskrit दिशति (diśati, “to point out, show, tell, teach”). More at token.
Clipping of teacher.
Possibly a variant of Thatch or Tack.
Words formed from teach
- beteach
- coteach
- co-teach
- don't teach your grandmother how to milk ducks
- don't teach your grandmother to steal sheep
- don't try to teach grandma how to suck eggs
- foreteach
- forteach
- give a man a fish and you feed him for a day
- teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime
- home teach
- microteach
- misteach
- nonteaching
- overteach
- pre-teach
- reteach
- teachability
- teachable
- teach away
- teacher
- teacherly
- teach grandma how to suck eggs
- teach-in
- teaching
- teachingly
- teachless
- teach out
- teach-out
- teach school
- teach someone a lesson
- teach someone who's the boss
- teach the controversy
- teach to read and write
- teach to the test
- teach who's boss
- teach who's the boss
- teachworthy
- teachy
- that'll teach someone
- underteach
- unteach
- unteachability
- unteachable
- you can't teach an old dog new tricks
Phrases with teach
Words that rhyme with teach
Questions about teach
- What does teach mean?
- Teach means to pass on knowledge to.
- What is teach in Hindi?
- Teach in Hindi is सिखाना (sikhānā), शिक्षा देना (śikṣā denā), पढ़ाना (paṛhānā). See Teach meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use teach in a sentence?
- Now she had come to look upon the matter in its true proportions, and her anticipation of a possible chance of teaching him a lesson was a pleasure to behold.
- What part of speech is teach?
- Teach can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce teach?
- Teach is pronounced /ˈtiːt͡ʃ/.
- What is the past tense of teach?
- The past tense of teach is taught.
Words near teach in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: teach (page history and authors); Teach (page history and authors); शिकवणे (Marathi) (page history and authors); ਸਿਖਾਉਣਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-teach.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-teach.wav, En-au-Teach.ogg.
Cite this entry: “teach.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/teach. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.