Etymograph

English

thin

Thin comes from Old English þynne, from Proto-Germanic *þunnuz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ténh₂us ‘thin’, from *tenh₂- ‘to stretch’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tenh₂-1‘to stretch’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ténh₂us2‘thin’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tn̥h₂wús2‘thin’reconstructedvariant of *ténh₂us
  4. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þunnuz3‘thin’reconstructed
  5. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*þunnī3‘thin’reconstructed
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150þynne3‘thin’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500thinne3‘thin’
  8. Englishearliest quotation a. 1627thin3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *ténh₂us
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *þunnuz
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English thin
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: a. 1627, Francis Bacon, Considerations Touching a Warre with Spaine. […]: “Spain is a nation thin sown of people.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tenh₂-Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *ténh₂us‘to stretch’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ténh₂usWiktionary, Proto-Germanic *þunnuz‘thin’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tn̥h₂wúsWiktionary, Proto-Germanic *þunnuz‘thin’reconstructedvariant of *ténh₂us
  4. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þunnuzWiktionary, English thin‘thin’reconstructed
  5. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*þunnīWiktionary, English thin‘thin’reconstructed
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150þynneWiktionary, English thin‘thin’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500thinneWiktionary, English thin‘thin’
  8. Englishearliest quotation a. 1627thinWiktionary, English thin. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: a. 1627, Francis Bacon, Considerations Touching a Warre with Spaine. […]: “Spain is a nation thin sown of people.”

The story

Also related to tenuous.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with thin, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *ténh₂us

  • extenuating ← ex ← tenuō ← tenuis ← *tən(a)us

6 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

adj Having little thickness or extent from one surface to its opposite.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “thin”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Indo-European *ténh₂us, Proto-Germanic *þunnuz. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *tenh₂- / thin