thread

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English threed, þred, from Old English þrǽd, ðrǽd, from Proto-Germanic *þrēduz, from Proto-Indo-European *treh₁-tu-, from *terh₁- (“rub, twist”). Near cognates include Dutch draad German Draht, Icelandic þráður and Norwegian, Danish and Swedish tråd. Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian dredh (“twist, turn”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /θrɛd/, X-SAMPA: /TrEd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛd

Noun

thread (plural threads)

1. A long, thin and flexible form of material, generally with a round cross-section, used in sewing, weaving or in the construction of string.
2. A theme or idea.

   All of these essays have a common thread.

   I’ve lost the thread of what you’re saying.

3. A screw thread.
4. A sequence of connections.
   • 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter XVIII

     I was pondering these things, when an incident, and a somewhat unexpected one, broke the thread of my musings.

   • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula Chapter 21

     "Let him go on. Do not interrupt him. He cannot go back, and maybe could not proceed at all if once he lost the thread of his thought."

5. The line midway between the banks of a stream.
6. (computing) A unit of execution, lighter in weight than a process, generally expected to share memory and other resources with other threads executing concurrently.
7. (Internet) A series of messages, generally grouped by subject, all but the first replies to previous messages in the thread.

Synonyms

• (theme): topic

Translations

long, thin and flexible form of material

• Albanian: fill (sq) m, pe (sq) m
• Arabic: خيط (ar) (kháyT) m

  Egyptian Arabic: خيط (xéṭ) m

• Armenian: թել (hy) (t’el) 
• Aromanian: hir (rup)
• Bulgarian: нишка (bg) (níška) f , конец (bg) (konéc) m 
• Catalan: fil (ca) m
• Chamicuro: kishemolo
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 線 (cmn), 线 (cmn) (xiàn)

• Czech: nit (cs) f, vlákno (cs) n
• Dalmatian: fil m
• Danish: tråd (da) c
• Dutch: draad (nl) m, garen (nl) n
• Esperanto: fadeno (eo)
• Faroese: tráður (fo) m
• Finnish: lanka (fi), rihma (fi), kuitu (fi), säie (fi)
• French: fil (fr) m
• Georgian: ძაფი (dzap‘i)
• German: Faden (de) m, Garn (de) n, Zwirn (de) m
• Greek: νήμα (el) n (níma), κλωστή (el) (klostí) f 
• Hebrew: חוט (hoot)
• Hungarian: cérna (hu)
• Italian: filo (it) m
• Japanese: 糸 (ja) (いと, ito)
• Korean: 실 (sil)

• Kurdish:

  Sorani: په‌ت (ku)

• Latin: filum (la)
• Latvian: diegs (lv) m
• Lithuanian: siūlas (lt) m
• Mongolian: утас (mn) (utas) 
• Norwegian: tråd (no) m
• Persian: نخ (fa)
• Polish: nić (pl) f, nitka (pl) f
• Portuguese: fio (pt) m
• Romanian: ață (ro) f, tort (ro) m and f, fir (ro) m and f
• Russian: нить (ru) (nit’) f , нитка (ru) (nítka) f 
• Scottish Gaelic: stìom (gd) f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: нит (sh) f

  Roman: nit (sh)

• Sichuan Yi: ꑟ (xi)
• Slovak: niť (sk) f, nitka (sk) f, vlákno (sk) n
• Slovene: nit (sl) f
• Spanish: hilo (es) m
• Swedish: tråd (sv)
• Tagalog: fil (tl)
• Telugu: దారము (daaramu)
• Thai: ด้าย (dâai), เชือก (chêuak)
• Turkish: tire (tr)
• Ukrainian: нитка (uk) (nýtka) f 

a theme or idea

• Bulgarian: тема (bg) (téma) f , нишка (bg) (níška) f 
• Catalan: fil conductor (ca) m
• Dutch: onderwerp (nl) n, rode draad (nl) m
• Finnish: juoni (fi)
• French: fil (fr) m
• German: Thema (de) n, roter Faden (de) m

• Greek: θέμα (el) (théma) n 
• Italian: filo (it) m, filo conduttore (it) m
• Polish: wątek (pl) m
• Serbo-Croatian: nit (sh) f
• Slovene: nit (sl) f
• Spanish: tema (es) m, argumento (es) m

a screw head

a sequence of connection

the line midway between the banks of a stream

(computingthread): a unit of execution

• Bulgarian: нишка (bg) (níška) f 
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 分身 (cmn) (fēnshēn), 線 (cmn), 线 (cmn) (xiàn), 線程 (cmn), 线程 (cmn) (xiànchéng)

• Czech: vlákno (cs) n
• Dutch: thread (nl)
• Finnish: säie (fi)

• French: processus léger (fr)
• German: Thread (de) m
• Japanese: スレッド (ja) (sureddo), ライトウェイトプロセス (ja) (raito-purosesu)
• Polish: wątek (pl) m
• Russian: поток (ru) (potók) m , тред (ru) (tred) m 
• Serbo-Croatian: nit (sh) f, dretva (sh) f
• Spanish: subproceso (es) m, proceso ligero (es) m

(Internetthread): a series of messages

• Arabic: موضوع (ar) (mawDuu3) m
• Bulgarian: тема (bg) (téma) f 
• Catalan: fil (ca) m, tema (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 主題 (cmn), 主题 (cmn) (zhǔtí), 論題 (cmn), 论题 (cmn) (lùntí), 話題 (cmn), 话题 (cmn) (huàtí)

• Dutch: topic (nl) f, onderwerp (nl) f, draad (nl)
• Finnish: säie (fi), viestiketju (fi), ketju (fi)
• French: fil (fr) m
• German: Diskussionsfaden (de) m, Thread (de) m

• Greek: νήμα (el) (níma) n 
• Italian: forum (it) m
• Japanese: スレッド (ja) (sureddo), スレ (ja) (sure)
• Polish: wątek (pl) m, temat (pl) m
• Portuguese: tópico (pt) m
• Russian: ветка (ru) (vétka) f , тема (ru) (téma) f , дискуссия (ru) (diskússija) f , тред (ru) (tred) m 
• Serbo-Croatian: nit (sh) f
• Spanish: tema (es), tópico (es)
• Swedish: tråd (sv) c

Derived terms

Derived terms

hang by a thread quadruple thread screw thread

thread count thread necromancy thread pool

threadbare threader thready

Verb

thread (third-person singular simple present threads, present participle threading, simple past threaded, (archaic) thrid, past participle threaded, (archaic) thridden)

1. (transitive) To put thread through.

   thread a needle

2. (transitive) To pass (through a narrow constriction or around a series of obstacles).

   I think I can thread my way through here, but it’s going to be tight.

Translations

put thread through

• Bulgarian: вдявам (bg) (vdjávam) , вдяна (bg) (vdjána) , промушвам (bg) (promúšvam) , промуша (bg) (promúša) 
• Dutch: bedraden

• Finnish: pujottaa (fi)
• German: einfädeln
• Icelandic: þræða (is)

to pass

• Bulgarian: промушвам (bg) (promúšvam) , промуша (bg) (promúša) , промъквам (bg) (promǎ̀kvam) , промъкна (bg) (promǎ̀kna) 
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 穿梭 (cmn) (chuānsuō)

• Dutch: passeren voorbij gaan

• Finnish: pujotella (fi)
• French: filer (fr)
• German: passieren, durchkommen
• Spanish: pasar (es)

Derived terms

threaded (as adjective)

multithreaded

Anagrams

• dareth
• dearth
• hatred

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Italian

Etymology

From English thread

Noun

thread m (invariable)

1. (Internet) thread (series of messages)