threshold

English

Etymology

From Middle English threschwolde, threscholde, from Old English þresċold, þerxold, þrexwold (“doorsill, entryway”), from Proto-Germanic *þreskudlaz, *þreskūþlijaz, *þreskwaþluz, from Proto-Germanic *þreskaną, *þreskwaną (“to thresh”), from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub, turn”). Cognate with Low German Drüssel (“threshold”), dialectal German Drischaufel, Drissufle, Trüschübel (“threshold”), Danish tærskel (“threshold”), Swedish tröskel (“threshold”), dialectal Swedish träskvald (“threshold”), Icelandic þröskuldur (“threshold”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈθɹeʃ(h)əʊld/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈθɹɛʃ(h)oʊld/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

threshold (plural thresholds)

1. The bottom-most part of a doorway that one crosses to enter; a sill.
2. (by extension) An entrance; the door or gate of a house.
   • c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene iii], page 166:

     Shy. You that did voide your rume vpon my beard, / And foote me as you ſpurne a ſtranger curre / Ouer your threſhold, […]

3. (by extension) Any end or boundary.
4. (figuratively) The outset of something; the point of entry, or the beginning of an action.
   • 1927-29, M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai, Part I, Chapter xi:

     I arrived at last, did obeisance to my uncle, and told him everything. He thought it over and said: ' […] At the threshold of death, how dare I give you permission to go to England, to cross the seas? But I will not stand in your way. It is your mother's permission which really matters. If she permit you, then godspeed! Tell her I will not interfere. You will go with my blessings.'

5. The start of the landing area of a runway.
6. (engineering) The quantitative point at which an action is triggered, especially a lower limit.
7. The wage or salary at which income tax becomes due.
8. The point where one mentally or physically is vulnerable in response to provocation or to particular things in general. As in emotions, stress, or pain.

Related terms

• thresholding
• thresholdless
• thresholdlike

Translations

bottom-most part of a doorway

• Albanian: prag (sq) m
• Arabic: عَتَبَة‎ f (ʿataba)
• Armenian: շեմք (hy) (šemkʿ), սեմ (hy) (sem)
• Azerbaijani: astana (az), kandar (az)
• Bashkir: тупһа (tupha), буҫаға (buθağa)
• Basque: atalase
• Belarusian: паро́г m (paróh)
• Bengali: গোবরাট (gobraṭ)
• Bulgarian: праг (bg) m (prag)
• Burmese: တံခါးခုံ (my) (tamhka:hkum), ဖိနပ်ချွတ် (my) (hpi.naphkywat), အပေါက်ဝ (my) (a.pauk-wa.)
• Catalan: llindar (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 門檻 (zh), 门槛 (zh) (ménkǎn), 門限 (zh), 门限 (zh) (ménxiàn)

• Chuvash: пусаха (pusaha) , алӑк янаххи (alăk janahhi)
• Crimean Tatar: bosağa
• Czech: práh (cs) m
• Danish: tærskel c, dørtærskel c
• Dutch: dorpel (nl), drempel (nl)
• Esperanto: sojlo
• Estonian: künnis
• Finnish: kynnys (fi)
• French: seuil (fr) m
• Galician: limiar m
• Georgian: ზღურბლი (ka) (zɣurbli)
• German: Schwelle (de) f, Türschwelle (de) f
• Greek: κατώφλι (el) n (katófli)

  Ancient: βηλός m (bēlós)

• Hebrew: סַף‎ (he) m (sap), מִפְתָּן‎ m (miftan)
• Hindi: डेवढ़ी f (ḍevṛhī)
• Hungarian: küszöb (hu)
• Icelandic: þröskuldur m
• Indonesian: ambang (id)
• Irish: tairseach f
• Italian: soglia (it) m
• Japanese: 敷居 (しきい, shikii)
• Karachay Balkar: босагъа
• Kazakh: табалдырық (tabaldırıq), босаға (bosağa)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 문턱 (munteok), 문지방 (ko) (munjibang)
• Kumyk: посагъа (posağa)
• Kyrgyz: босого (ky) (bosogo)
• Lao: ທໍຣະນີປະຕູ (thǭ ra nī pa tū)
• Latgalian: slīksnis m
• Latin: līmen n
• Latvian: slieksnis m
• Lithuanian: slenkstis (lt) m
• Macedonian: праг m (prag)

• Malay: ambang
• Maori: paewae, paepae, paepaepoto
• Mongolian: босго (mn) (bosgo)
• Nogai: босага (bosaga)
• Norman: ché d'la porte m, pas dé l'us m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: terskel (no) m, dørstokk m

• Occitan: lindal (oc) m, sulhet, solar (oc) m, pompidor (oc) m
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: прагъ m (pragŭ)

• Old East Slavic: порогъ m (porogŭ)
• Ossetian: къӕсӕр (k’æsær)
• Persian: آستان‎ (fa) (âstân)
• Polabian: роrg m
• Polish: próg (pl) m, przedsionek (pl) m
• Portuguese: umbral (pt) m, soleira (pt) f, limiar (pt) m
• Romanian: prag (ro) n
• Russian: поро́г (ru) m (poróg)
• Scottish Gaelic: stairsneach f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: праг m

  Roman: prag (sh) m

• Shor: позаа , позаға
• Slovak: prah m
• Slovene: prag (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: prog m

  Upper Sorbian: рrоh m

• Southern Altai: бозого (bozogo)
• Spanish: umbral (es) m
• Swedish: tröskel (sv) c
• Tajik: остона (ostona), даргоҳ (dargoh)
• Tatar: бусага (busağa)
• Thai: ธรณีประตู (tɔɔ-rá-nii-bprà-dtuu)
• Turkish: eşik (tr)
• Turkmen: bosaga (tk)
• Tuvan: бозага (bozaga) , казапча (kazapča) , эргин (ärgïn)
• Ukrainian: порі́г m (poríh)
• Urdu: ڈیوڑھی‎ f (ḍevṛhī)
• Uzbek: ostona (uz), boʻsagʻa (uz)
• Uyghur: bosogha (Latin)
• Vietnamese: ngưỡng (vi), ngưỡng cửa (vi)
• Volapük: soliad (vo), (house) domasoliad
• Walloon: soû (wa) m
• Welsh: trothwy m, rhiniog m
• Westrobothnian: dȯrabäck m, tråssgål m
• Yiddish: שוועל‎ (shvel)

entrance

• Catalan: llindar (ca) m
• Danish: tærskel c
• Esperanto: sojlo, enirejo
• Finnish: kynnys (fi)
• Galician: limiar m
• Greek: κατώφλι (el) n (katófli)

• Italian: soglia di casa f, entrata (it) f, uscio (it) m
• Macedonian: праг m (prag)
• Polish: próg (pl) m, przedsionek (pl) m
• Portuguese: patamar (pt) m, patamares pl
• Spanish: umbral (es) m, entrada (es) f

start of the landing area

• Finnish: kynnys (fi)

• Portuguese: cabeceira (pt) f

point at which an action is triggered

• Armenian: շեմ (hy) (šem)
• Catalan: llindar (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 阈值 (zh) (yù zhí), 閾值 (zh)

• Danish: tærskel c, tærskelværdi c
• Dutch: drempelwaarde c
• Finnish: kynnysarvo
• French: seuil (fr)
• Galician: limiar m
• German: Schwelle (de)
• Greek: κατώφλι (el) n (katófli)
• Hungarian: küszöbérték (hu)

• Italian: soglia (it)
• Japanese: 閾値 (ja) (shikiichi)
• Korean: 역치 (yeokchi)
• Norwegian: terskel (no) m
• Polish: próg (pl) m
• Portuguese: limiar (pt) m, umbral (pt) m
• Russian: поро́г (ru) m (poróg)
• Spanish: umbral (es) m
• Swedish: tröskelvärde (sv) n
• Tagalog: gilid
• Turkish: eşik (tr)
• Welsh: trothwy m

income at which income tax becomes due

• Danish: bundgrænse c
• Finnish: alaraja
• French: seuil (fr) m
• Polish: próg (pl) m

• Russian: поро́г (ru) m (poróg)
• Spanish: límite (es) m
• Swedish: fribelopp n

outset of an action or project

• Finnish: aloituspiste
• French: seuil (fr) m

• Greek: αφετηρία (el) f (afetiría)
• Russian: преддве́рие (ru) n (preddvérije)

point where one mentally or physically is vulnerable in response to provocation or to particular things in general

• French: seuil de tolérance m
• Greek: ουδός (el) m (oudós)

• Tagalog: gilid

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian: ^{(please verify)} prag (sq) m
• Catalan: ^{(please verify)} llindar (ca) m
• French: ^{(please verify)} seuil (fr) m
• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} סף‎ (he)
• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} þröskuldur m
• Irish: ^{(please verify)} tairseach f

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} soglia (it) f
• Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} slenkstis (lt) m
• Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} terskel (no) m
• Persian: آستانه‎
• Romanian: prag f and m
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} umbral (es) m
• Telugu: ముఖద్వారం (te) (mukhadvāraṃ), వాకిలి (te) (vākili)
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} eşik (tr)