Etymograph

English

thresh

Thresh comes from Old English þerscan ‘to thresh’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *þreskaną.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þreskaną1‘to thresh’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150þerscan1‘to thresh’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500thrasshen1
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1967thresh1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English thresh
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1967, J. A. Baker, The Peregrine: “The jay fell all lopsidedly and threshing, as though…”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þreskanąWiktionary, English thresh‘to thresh’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150þerscanWiktionary, English thresh‘to thresh’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500thrasshenWiktionary, English thresh
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1967threshWiktionary, English thresh. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1967, J. A. Baker, The Peregrine: “The jay fell all lopsidedly and threshing, as though…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- ‘to rub, turn’

turn, tournament, throw, tragic, trout, thread, detrimental, tyrone, detriment, detour, attrition, tourney, triage, trite, termite, tribulation, detritus, tourniquet, truant, tyro, derma, 42 more

through Middle English thrasshen

thrash

Today it means

verb To separate the grain from the straw or husks (chaff) by mechanical beating, with a flail or machinery, or by driving animals over them.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “thresh”. 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-Germanic *þreskaną / thresh

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