thane
/θeɪn/
thane noun: a rank of nobility in pre-Norman England, roughly equivalent to baron.
Noun
thane (plural thanes)
- A rank of nobility in pre-Norman England, roughly equivalent to baron.
- Sonnes, Kinsmen, Thanes, / And you whose places are the nearest, know, / We will establish our Estate vpon / Our eldest, Malcolme, whom we name hereafter, / The Prince of Cumberland: […]c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- The Anglo-Saxon thanes were in all respects the predecessors of the Norman barons.
The title of thane seems to have supplanted that of gesith, which appears only in the earner Anglo-Saxon laws, a denomination that may originally have designated the attendants or companions of the king, and whose...1845, Johann Martin Lappenberg, translated by Benjamin Thorpe, A History of England under the Anglo-Saxon Kings, published 2004, page 317
Proper noun capitalized: Thane
Thane
- A large city and district of Maharashtra, India, part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
Forms of thane
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | thanes |
| alternative form | thegn |
| alternative form | thayn |
| alternative form (obsolete) | thein |
| alternative form (obsolete) | theine |
| Proper noun | |
| alternative form | Thana |
Origin of thane
From Middle English theyn, thein, þein, from Old English þæġn, þeġen, þeġn, from Proto-West Germanic *þegn (“man, warrior”), from Proto-Germanic *þegnaz (“man, warrior”), from Proto-Indo-European *teḱ- (“to give birth”); akin to Dutch degen, German Degen, Old Norse þegn and Ancient Greek τέκνον (téknon, “child”).
Transliteration of Marathi ठाणे (ṭhāṇe). Doublet of thana.
Words formed from thane
Words that rhyme with thane
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- drain
- pane
- gain
- main
- sustain
- vein
- entertain
- skein
- Wayne
- abstain
- bane
- campaign
- champagne
- crane
- entrain
- fain
- insane
- maine
- pain
- plane
- stain
- wane
- Aquitaine
- ascertain
- chicane
- contain
- detain
- explain
- maintain
- mundane
- obtain
- refrain
- remain
- vane
- amain
- arcane
- Blaine
- complain
- deign
- detrain
- distrain
- kane
- ordain
- pertain
- profane
- public domain
- reign
- swain
Questions about thane
- What does thane mean?
- Thane means a rank of nobility in pre-Norman England, roughly equivalent to baron.
- What part of speech is thane?
- Thane can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce thane?
- Thane is pronounced /θeɪn/.
- What is the plural of thane?
- The plural of thane is thanes.
Words near thane in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: thane (page history and authors); Thane (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-thane.wav.
Cite this entry: “thane.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/thane. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.