entry
through
/θruː/From one side, end, or stage to another
From Proto-Indo-European *terh₂- / *tere- (to cross over) + Proto-Indo-European *terh₃u- (to rub).
from Proto-Indo-European *terh₃u- (“to rub, turn, drill, bore”). Not directly related with German Truhe (“chest”),...
from Old English þurh
+1 more sourcefrom Old English þurh
+1 more sourcefrom Middle English thrugh, thruch, thruh, metathetic variants of thurgh, thurh
from Proto-Indo-European *terh₃u- (“to rub, turn, drill, bore”). Not directly related with German Truhe (“chest”),...
from Old English þrūh (“trough, conduit, pipe; box, chest; coffin, tomb”)
from Old English þrūh (“trough, conduit, pipe; box, chest; coffin, tomb”)
Word Ancestry
from Proto-Indo-European *terh₃u- (“to rub, turn, drill, bore”). Not directly related with German Truhe (“chest”),...
from Old English þurh
+1 more sourcefrom Old English þurh
+1 more sourcefrom Middle English thrugh, thruch, thruh, metathetic variants of thurgh, thurh
from Proto-Indo-European *terh₃u- (“to rub, turn, drill, bore”). Not directly related with German Truhe (“chest”),...
from Old English þrūh (“trough, conduit, pipe; box, chest; coffin, tomb”)
from Old English þrūh (“trough, conduit, pipe; box, chest; coffin, tomb”)
A person walking through a doorway is using a word whose ancestors were already imagining passage from one side to another. Old English þurh eventually became Middle English thurgh and then thrugh, with the sounds swapping places in a small linguistic shuffle called metathesis. The same Germanic family includes German durch and Dutch door—so a modern door is, etymologically speaking, the thing you go through. There is also an old near-twin lurking in the evidence: Old English þrūh meant a hollowed-out wooden channel, box, or coffin, and its forms may have tugged on the history of through, though the two roots are not directly the same. By 1798, American English was using through for a complete span such as “January through December,” and the word still carries both a journey and its finish: you go through something, then you are through with it.
The Story
A person walking through a doorway is using a word whose ancestors were already imagining passage from one side to another. Old English þurh eventually became Middle English thurgh and then thrugh, with the sounds swapping places in a small linguistic shuffle called metathesis. The same Germanic family includes German durch and Dutch door—so a modern door is, etymologically speaking, the thing you go through. There is also an old near-twin lurking in the evidence: Old English þrūh meant a hollowed-out wooden channel, box, or coffin, and its forms may have tugged on the history of through, though the two roots are not directly the same. By 1798, American English was using through for a complete span such as “January through December,” and the word still carries both a journey and its finish: you go through something, then you are through with it.
Modern Usage
In slang, ruined, in serious trouble, or out of fashion
Notable References
- Urban Dictionary entries describing someone as ‘through’ after trouble or something as outdated
Kin & Kindred
From '*terh₂- / *tere-'·to cross over, pass through, overcome
Derived Terms
English words from this root
From '*terh₃u-'·to rub, turn, drill, bore
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Etymonline
Free Dictionary
Urban Dictionary
Wikipedia
Wiktionary