Trench

How to spell trench

6 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce trench

What does trench mean?

1. nounA long, narrow ditch dug into the ground, often for drainage, pipes, foundations, or military defence.
2. verbTo dig a long narrow ditch, or to cut deeply into a surface.

Trench in a sentence

• noun

  The workers dug a deep trench to lay the water main.

• verb

  The crew planned to trench along the road to install the cables.

• noun

  Soldiers sheltered in the muddy trench during the bombardment.

• verb

  Engineers will trench across the site before pouring the foundations.

Where does trench come from?

Language of origin: French

Trench came into English in the late 1300s from the Old French word 'trenche', meaning a slice or a cut, which was formed from the verb 'trenchier', 'to cut or carve'. That verb is thought to derive ultimately from the Latin 'truncare', 'to lop off or mutilate', the same root that gives us 'truncate' and 'trunk'. The earliest English sense kept close to the idea of cutting: a trench was literally a long gash carved into the ground. From there it settled into the familiar meaning of a deep, narrow excavation, whether for drainage, foundations, or warfare. The military sense became especially vivid during the First World War, when 'trench warfare' described soldiers fighting from long defensive ditches, and the protective 'trench coat' took its name from that same battlefield context.

How the word is built

• trench (from Old French trenchier: to cut, slice)