thinken

Alternative forms

• thenchen, thenken, thynken, thinke, think

Etymology

From Old English þenċan (“to think”),^[1] from Proto-Germanic *þankijaną (“to perceive; to think”), from Proto-Indo-European *teng- (“to think”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈθinkən/

Verb

thinken (third-person singular simple present thinketh, present participle thinkende, simple past thought, past participle ithought)

1. To think, ponder; to deduce, figure out; to grasp, understand.
   • c. 1450, Prose Merlin

     And in the menewhile that thei thoughten upon these thinges that thei hadde seyn, the squyer com the thridde tyme and smote his lorde sorer than he hadde don before.

   • 1589, George Peele, An Eclogue Gratulatory

     And for their mistress, thoughten the two swains,

     They moughten never take too mickle pains;

2. To pray.
3. To conceive of, imagine.
4. To recall, remember.
5. To reach a conclusion, to decide, resolve; to accept, believe; to consider, regard.
6. To focus on, pay attention to.
7. To plot, scheme; to anticipate, expect.
   • c. 1500, The Turke and Sir Gawain

     All the giants thoughten then

     To have strucke out Sir Gawaines braine.

8. To be sorry.
9. To feel.

References