English

thank

/ˈθæŋk/
To express appreciation or gratitude toward (someone or something).

    Etymology graph

    • inherited
    • borrowed
    • derived
    • parts
    • meaning component
    • sound component
    • related

    Click a node to zoom in · double-click to open it

    Origin

    From Middle English thanken (“to express gratitude, give thanks; to congratulate, rejoice with, or wish joy to; to extol, praise; to hold responsible for”), from Old English þancian, þoncian (“to thank”), from Proto-West Germanic *þankōn, from Proto-Germanic *þankōną (“to thank”), from *þankaz (see etymology 1) + *-ōną (suffix forming infinitives of verbs from nouns).

    Cognates

    Cognate with Scots thank (“to thank”), Saterland Frisian tonkje (“to thank”), Cimbrian dånkan (“to thank”), Dutch, German, and Luxembourgish danken (“to thank”), Vilamovian danka, daŋka, daonka (“to thank”), Yiddish דאַנקען (danken, “to thank”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål takke (“to thank”), Faroese takka (“to thank”), Icelandic þakka (“to thank”), Swedish tacka (“to thank”).

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englishthanken
      • inheritedOld Englishþancian
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*þankōn
          • inheritedProto-Germanic*þankōną
            • partProto-Germanic*þankaz
            • partProto-Germanic*-ōną
              • inheritedProto-Indo-European*-eh₂yéti
                • partProto-Indo-European*-éh₂
                • partProto-Indo-European*-yéti
              • inheritedProto-Indo-European*-h₂ti

    Related: Scots thank, Saterland Frisian tonkje, Cimbrian dånkan, nl,de,lb danken, Vilamovian danka, Yiddish דאַנקען, da,nb takke, Faroese takka, Icelandic þakka, Swedish tacka

    Sources