threshold

English

Etymology

From Middle English threschwolde, threscholde, from Old English þresċold, þerxold, þrexwold (“doorsill", "point of entering”), from Old English þresċan (“thresh”), from Proto-Germanic *þreskaną (“thresh”) and *-thlo (instrumental suffix); the first part ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub, turn”).

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 of a house.
   • 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act I Scene 3

     You that did void your rheum upon my beard, / And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur / Over the threshold; [...]

3. The start of the landing area of a runway
4. (engineering) The quantitative point at which an action is triggered, especially a lower limit.
5. The wage or salary at which income tax becomes due
6. The outset of an action or project
7. 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.
8. The point of beginning or entry

   From all the pressure my partner has been through lately, his emotional threshold has suddenly gotten pretty low these days. I can tell because he easily loses it when he is around people or hears about anything to do with his concerns.

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)

• Czech: práh (cs) m
• Danish: tærskel c, dørtærskel c
• Dutch: dorpel (nl), drempel (nl)
• 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)
• Kazakh: табалдырық (tabaldırıq), босаға (bosağa)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 문턱 (munteok), 문지방 (ko) (munjibang)
• 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)
• Norman: ché d'la porte m, pas dé l'us m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: terskel (no) m, dørstokk m

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

  Cyrillic: прагъ m (pragŭ)

• Old East Slavic: порогъ m (porogŭ)
• Ossetian: къæсæр (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

• Slovak: prah m
• Slovene: prag (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: prog m

  Upper Sorbian: рrоh m

• Spanish: umbral (es) m
• Swedish: tröskel (sv) c
• Tajik: остона (ostona), даргоҳ (dargoh)
• Thai: ธรณีประตู (tɔɔ-rá-nii-bprà-dtuu)
• Turkish: eşik (tr)
• Turkmen: bosaga (tk)
• Ukrainian: порі́г m (poríh)
• Urdu: ڈیوڑھی‎ f (ḍevṛhī)
• Uzbek: ostona (uz), boʻsagʻa (uz)
• 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
• 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
• 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 (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
• Arabic: العتبَة‎
• Catalan: ^{(please verify)} llindar (ca) m
• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} drempelwaarde
• 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)