Etymograph

English

thus

Thus comes from Old English þus ‘thus, in this way, as follows, in this manner,…’, and goes back to Proto-West Germanic *þus.

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*þus1‘so’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150þus1‘thus’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500thus1
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1879thus1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English thus
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1879, Richard Jefferies, London: Smith: “But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*þusWiktionary, English thus‘so’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150þusWiktionary, English thus‘thus’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500thusWiktionary, English thus
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1879thusWiktionary, English thus. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1879, Richard Jefferies, London: Smith: “But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me…”

The story

From Middle English thus, þus, from Old English þus (‘thus, in this way, as follows, in this manner, to this extent’), from Proto-West Germanic *þus (‘so, thus’), perhaps originally from a variant of the instrumental form of this, related to Old English þȳs (‘by this, with this’), Old Saxon thius (‘by this, with this’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Proto-West Germanic *þus

Today it means

adv In this way or manner.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “thus”. 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-West Germanic *þus / thus

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