Think

How to spell think

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce think

What does think mean?

1. verbTo use the mind to form ideas, opinions, or judgements about something.

Think in a sentence

• She likes to think carefully before making any decision.

• Managers should think about the long-term costs of the project.

Where does think come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a thoroughly native English word, descending from the Old English verb thencan, meaning 'to conceive in the mind' or 'to consider'. It belongs to a wider Germanic family, with close relatives in the Dutch denken and the German denken, all reaching back to a common ancestor that meant to turn something over in one's mind. In early English there were two closely related verbs that later blurred together: thencan 'to think' and thyncan 'to seem or appear', the second of which survives only in the fossilised phrase 'methinks'. The hard 'k' sound and the 'th' opening have stayed remarkably stable for well over a thousand years, which is why the spelling is short and phonetic. Because every letter is pronounced and the word is so common, it is one of the easiest words in English to spell.

How the word is built

• think (single native root verb, from Old English thencan 'to conceive in the mind'); no prefix or suffix