Thunderstorm

How to spell thunderstorm

12 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce thunderstorm

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does thunderstorm mean?

1. nounA storm with thunder and lightning, usually accompanied by heavy rain.

Thunderstorm in a sentence

• The afternoon thunderstorm knocked out power across the whole street.

• Forecasters warned that a severe thunderstorm would hit the coast by evening.

Where does thunderstorm come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a transparent English compound built from two native Germanic words. 'Thunder' descends from Old English 'thunor', the rumbling crash that follows a lightning flash, related to the German 'Donner' and even to the name of the Norse god Thor; the word imitates the deep rolling noise itself. 'Storm' comes from Old English 'storm', meaning a violent disturbance of the air, again with close cousins across the Germanic languages. The two were joined to label the specific weather event in which thunder, lightning, and heavy rain occur together. The compound became common in English from around the seventeenth century as a single descriptive term, and because both halves are plain everyday words the spelling holds few surprises.

How the word is built

• thunder (loud sound after lightning)
• storm (violent weather event)