thank
UK/ˈθæŋk/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/ˈθaŋk/
thank is the singular of thanks.
Verb
thank (third-person singular simple present thanks, present participle thanking, simple past and past participle thanked)
- To express appreciation or gratitude toward (someone or something).
- She thanked him for the lift.
- [H]aſt thou no ſhame to deſpiſe that perſone, to whom onely and no man els, thou art bounde to thanke, euen for this veraie pointe, that thou ſetteſt ſo moche by thy peinted ſheathe?1564 February, Erasmus, “The Saiynges of Diogenes the Cynike”, in Nicolas Udall [i.e., Nicholas Udall], transl., Apophthegmes, that is to Saie, Prompte, Quicke, Wittie and Sentẽcious Saiynges, […]...
- In the future tense in the form one will thank someone to do something, chiefly expressing a command or criticism: to request that (someone) do something.
- I’ll thank you not to smoke in my house!
- Our readers would not thank us for going into the badgerings which had for some time annoyed the chancellor on the subject of arrears in his court.1844, “Art. IV.—The Public and Private Life of Lord Chancellor Eldon, including His Correspondence, and Selections from the Anecdote Book, Written by Himself. By Horace Twiss, Esq., One of Her...
- To express appreciation or gratitude for (something).
- To respond to (someone) out of, or as if out of, appreciation or gratitude.
- I should summon my lord from the Queen's royal presence to do your business, should I?—I were like to be thanked with a horse-whip.1821 January 8, [Walter Scott], chapter I, in Kenilworth; a Romance. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; and John Ballantyne, […]; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC...
- Chiefly followed by for: to credit or hold (someone or something) responsible, especially for something negative; to blame.
- We can thank global warming for this freak weather.
- To express gratitude.
Meaning of thanks
Noun
thanks pl (normally plural, singular (obsolete) thank)
- An expression of appreciation or gratitude.
- After all I’ve done, a simple acknowledgment is the thanks I get?
- Grateful feelings or thoughts; favour, goodwill, graciousness.
Forms of thank
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | thanks |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | thanks |
| present participle | thanking |
| past participle | thanked |
| past | thanked |
| alternative form (obsolete) | thanke |
Origin of thank
From Middle English thank (“gratitude; expression of gratitude, thanks; attractiveness; commendation, praise; God’s grace; goodwill; merit, reward; mind, thought”), from Old English þanc, þonc (“gratitude; expression of gratitude, thanks; favour, grace; mind, thought; pleasure, satisfaction”), from Proto-Germanic *þankaz (“gratitude; expression of gratitude, thanks; mind, thought; remembrance”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *teng- (“to perceive; to think”). Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Tonk (“thanks”), West Frisian tanke (“thanks”), Cimbrian dånke (“thanks”), Dutch dank (“thanks”), German Dank (“thanks”), Vilamovian dank, daŋk, daonk (“thanks”), Yiddish דאַנק (dank, “thanks”), Danish tak (“thanks”), Elfdalian tokk (“thanks”), Faroese takk, tøkk (“thanks”), Icelandic takk, þökk (“thanks”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk takk (“thanks”), Swedish tack (“thanks”), Gothic 𐌸𐌰𐌲𐌺𐍃 (þagks, “thanks”), Vandalic *þank- (“thanks”); also Latin tongeō (“to know”). For the think — thank relation, compare typologically Russian призна́тельный (priznátelʹnyj) (< знать (znatʹ).
From Middle English thanken (“to express gratitude, give thanks; to congratulate, rejoice with, or wish joy to; to extol, praise; to hold responsible for”), from Old English þancian, þoncian (“to thank”), from Proto-West Germanic *þankōn, from Proto-Germanic *þankōną (“to thank”), from *þankaz (see etymology 1) + *-ōną (suffix forming infinitives of verbs from nouns). Cognates Cognate with Scots thank (“to thank”), Saterland Frisian tonkje (“to thank”), Cimbrian dånkan (“to thank”), Dutch, German, and Luxembourgish danken (“to thank”), Vilamovian danka, daŋka, daonka (“to thank”), Yiddish דאַנקען (danken, “to thank”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål takke (“to thank”), Faroese takka (“to thank”), Icelandic þakka (“to thank”), Swedish tacka (“to thank”).
Words formed from thank
- pickthank
- pickthanking
- shun-thank
- thankless
- thankly
- thank-offering
- thank-picking
- thank-render
- thanksdoing
- thanksgive
- thanksgiver
- thanks-living
- thanksprayer
- thankworth
- thankful
- thankworthy
- bethank
- misthank
- no thank you
- outthank
- rethank
- thankability
- thankable
- thanker
- thank fuck
- thank god
- thank Goddess
- thank Goddesses
- thank God it's Friday
- thank gods
- thank goodness
- thank heavens
- thanking
- thank one's lucky stars
- thank one's stars
- thank science
- thanksome
- thank the Goddesses
- thank the gods
- thank u
- thank ya
- thank ye
- thank ye so very much
- thank-you
- thank you
- thank you all
- thank you card
- thank-you-ma'am
- thank you very much
- unthank
- unthanked
- unthanking
- wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am
Phrases with thank
Words that rhyme with thank
Questions about thank
- What does thank mean?
- Thank means to express appreciation or gratitude toward (someone or something).
- What is thank the singular of?
- Thank is the singular of thanks.
- What part of speech is thank?
- Thank is a verb.
- How do you pronounce thank?
- Thank is pronounced /ˈθæŋk/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of thank?
- The past tense of thank is thanked.
Words near thank in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: thank (page history and authors); thanks (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-thank.ogg.
Cite this entry: “thank.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/thank. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.