Etymograph

English

think

Think comes from Middle English thinken ‘to think, ponder’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *teng-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*teng-1‘to think’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þankijaną1‘to think’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*þankijan1‘to think’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150þenċan1‘to think’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500thinken1‘to think’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1601–1602think1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English think
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1601–1602, William Shakespeare, Twelfe Night, or What You Will: “My brother he is in Elizium, / Perchance he…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*teng-Wiktionary, English think‘to think’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þankijanąWiktionary, English think‘to think’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*þankijanWiktionary, English think‘to think’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150þenċanWiktionary, English think‘to think’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500thinkenWiktionary, English think‘to think’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1601–1602thinkWiktionary, English think. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1601–1602, William Shakespeare, Twelfe Night, or What You Will: “My brother he is in Elizium, / Perchance he…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *teng- ‘to think, feel, know’

thank, tent, dunk, thoughtless, tinge, tincture, methinks, 18 more

through Proto-Germanic *þankijaną ‘to think’

thought, 10 more

through Old English þenċan ‘to think’

forethought, 4 more

Another origin of think

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*teng-‘to think, perceive’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þunkijaną‘to seem’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150þyncan‘to seem, appear’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500thinken
  5. Englishtodaythink

Today it means

verb To ponder, to go over in one's mind.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “think”. 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 *teng- / think

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