Threads

How to spell threads

7 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce threads

What does threads mean?

1. nounThin strands of cotton, wool, silk, or similar fibre used for sewing or weaving.
2. nounConnected series of online messages or posts on a single topic.
3. verbPasses a strand, wire, or narrow object through a small opening or guides something carefully through a tight space.

Threads in a sentence

• noun

  Loose threads hung from the hem of the old coat.

• noun

  The support forum had several threads about the same software bug.

• verb

  She threads the needle quickly before the light fades each evening.

• noun

  She sorted the coloured threads by shade before starting the embroidery.

• noun

  He muted the noisy email threads so his inbox would stay quiet.

• verb

  The courier threads his van through the narrow lanes of the old town.

Where does threads come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word descends from the Old English thrǣd, meaning a twisted or spun fibre, which in turn came from the Germanic root thrēdaz, built on a verb meaning 'to twist' or 'to throw'. The same twisting idea links it to the modern word 'throw', because spinning fibre once involved throwing or twisting it into a continuous strand. From the literal sense of a strand of cotton, wool, or silk, English speakers extended the word to figurative lines of connection, such as the thread of an argument or a series of linked messages online. The screw-thread sense, a spiral ridge that winds around a bolt, also borrows the image of something twisting along a length. The spelling has stayed close to its Old English form, keeping the 'th' and the silent-looking but fully pronounced 'ea' that trips up people expecting a long vowel.

How the word is built

• thread (from Old English thrǣd: a twisted fibre)
• -s (plural noun marker, or third-person singular verb marker)