Thaw
verbTo melt, or to cause something frozen to become soft or liquid.
How to spell thaw
4 letters · 1 syllable
How to pronounce thaw
What does thaw mean?
- verbTo melt, or to cause something frozen to become soft or liquid.
- nounA period of warmer weather that melts ice and snow, or a figurative easing of tension.
Thaw in a sentence
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verb
Leave the chicken on the counter to thaw before cooking.
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noun
The sudden thaw flooded the low fields near the river.
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verb
The spring sun will thaw the snow on the rooftops.
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noun
A diplomatic thaw between the two countries reopened the border.
Where does thaw come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
This word descends directly from the Old English verb thawian, meaning 'to melt' or 'to become liquid', and it belongs to the native Germanic core of English rather than to any later borrowing. It is related to older Germanic forms such as the Dutch dooien and the German tauen, all carrying the same idea of ice or snow softening into water. The deeper Indo-European root is thought to mean 'to dissolve' or 'to disappear', which fits the way frozen ground simply vanishes into mud each spring. From around the 1500s the word also took on a figurative life, describing the easing of cold feelings or strained relations, a sense later made famous in talk of a political 'thaw'. The spelling keeps the old 'th' opening and the 'aw' that captures the long vowel, so the main trap is resisting the urge to add a silent final 'e'.
How the word is built
- thaw (from Old English thawian: to melt)
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