thread

Meaning

Noun

1. A cord formed by spinning or twisting together textile fibers or filaments into one or more continuous strands, typically used in needlework.
2. A piece of yarn, especially said of warps and wefts in a woven fabric.
3. Any of various natural (as spiderweb, etc.) or manufactured filaments (as glass, plastic, metal, etc.).
4. A slender stream of water.
5. The line midway between the banks of a stream.
6. A screw thread.
7. The continuing course of life; thread of life.
8. An ordered course, that which connects the successive points in a discourse.
9. An ordered course, that which connects the successive points in a discourse.
10. A unit of execution, lighter in weight than a process, usually sharing memory and other resources with other threads executing concurrently.
11. (Internet) A series of posts or messages, consisting of an initial post and responses to it, generally relating to the same subject, on a newsgroup, Internet forum, or social media platform.
12. A sequence of connections.
13. A precarious condition; something that which offers no real or otherwise perceived security.
14. (figuratively, obsolete) The degree of fineness; quality; nature.

Verb

1. (transitive) To pass a thread through the eye of a needle.
2. (transitive) To fix (beads, pearls, etc.) upon a thread that is passed through; to string.
3. (figuratively, transitive) To make one's way through or between (a constriction or obstacles).
4. (figuratively, transitive) To make one's way through or between (a constriction or obstacles).
5. (figuratively, transitive) To pass through; to pierce through; to penetrate.
6. (transitive) To interweave as if with thread; to intersperse.
7. (transitive) To form a screw thread on or in (a bolt, hole, etc.).
8. (ambitransitive) To remove (facial hair) by way of a looped thread that is tightly wound in the middle.
9. (ambitransitive) To feed (a sewing machine or otherwise a projecting or exposing mechanism, such as a projector, a camera, etc.) with film.
10. (transitive) To pass (a film or tape) through a projector, recorder, etc. so as to correct its path.
11. (intransitive) Of boiling syrup: To form a threadlike stream when poured from a spoon.

Synonyms

string

🪢

yarn

🧶

cord

filament

rope

🪢

wire

fibre

line

twine

fiber

cotton

strand

ribbon

🎀

tie

vein

warp

string together

band

draw

weave

train of thought

knot

🪢

lace

clue

screw thread

fibril

wander

woof

wool

needle

meander

tissue

stripe

wind

jet

slip

braid

streak

row

pierce

rootlet

gather

filum

clew

fillet

chain

bindle

cable

penetrate

path

🛣️

Translations

fil

🧶

Faden

🧶

hilo

🧵

filo

🧵

draad

🧵

Garn

fio

🧵

garen

🧶

Zwirn

🧵

enfiler

🧵

Thread

🧵

Gewinde

🧵

νήμα

Pronounced as (IPA)

/θɹɛd/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: thred

Inherited from Old English: þrǣd

Cognate with Saterland Frisian: Träid

Cognate with Western Frisian: tried

Cognate with Dutch: draad

Cognate with German: Draht

Cognate with Swedish: tråd

Cognate with Icelandic: þráður

Cognate with Albanian: dredh

In summary

From Middle English thred, þred, threed, from Old English þrǣd, from Proto-Germanic *þrēduz, from Proto-Indo-European *treh₁-tu-s, from *terh₁- (“rub, twist”).
Cognates
Cognate with Yola dreade (“thread”), Saterland Frisian Träid (“thread, wire”), Cimbrian draat (“string, thread”), Dutch draad (“thread, wire”), German Draht (“thread, wire”), Luxembourgish Drot (“wire”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish tråd (“thread, wire”), Faroese tráður (“thread”), Icelandic þráður (“thread”). Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian dredh (“twist, turn”). More at throw.