thought

== English == === Alternative forms === thowt (archaic) thaught (nonstandard) thot (archaic) === Etymology === From Middle English thought, ithoȝt, from Old English þōht, ġeþōht, from Proto-West Germanic *þą̄ht, from Proto-Germanic *þanhtaz, *gaþanhtą (“thought”), from Proto-Indo-European *teng- (“to think”). Cognate with Scots thocht (“thought”), Saterland Frisian Toacht (“thought”), West Frisian dacht (“attention, regard, thought”), Dutch gedachte (“thought”), German Andacht (“reverence, devotion, prayer”), Icelandic þóttur (“thought”). Related to thank, think. === Pronunciation === enPR: thôt (General American) (without the cot–caught merger) IPA(key): /θɔt/ (cot–caught merger) IPA(key): /θɑt/ (Inland Northern American) IPA(key): [θɒ(ː)t] (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /θɔːt/ (Standard Southern British, General Australian, New Zealand) IPA(key): /θoːt/ (Canada) IPA(key): [θɒ(ː)t], [θɔ(ː)t] (Northumbria) IPA(key): /θaʊt/ Rhymes: -ɔːt Homophones: thot (cot–caught merger), fought (th-fronting), fort (non-rhotic, th-fronting) === Noun === thought (countable and uncountable, plural thoughts) (countable) A representation created in the mind without the use of one's faculties of vision, sound, smell, touch, or taste; an instance of thinking. (uncountable) The operation by which mental activity arise or are manipulated; the process of thinking; the agency by which thinking is accomplished. Synonym: thinking (noun) Coordinate terms: cognition, cogitation (loosely synonymous); emotion, feelings a. 1983, Paul Fix (attributed quote) The only reason some people get lost in thought is because it’s unfamiliar territory. 2003, Roy Porter, Flesh in the Age of Reason, Ch.1, at p.14, 15: What has been especially striking in recent decades, however, is the rise of new outlooks challenging the very idea of a nucleated (if evasive) inner personal identity. [...] We don't think our thoughts, they think us; we are but the bearers of discourses, our selves are discursive constructs. Within such frames of analysis, any notion of the ascent of selfhood is but idle teleological myth, a humanist hagiography. (countable) A way of thinking (associated with a group, nation or region). (uncountable, now dialectal) Anxiety, distress. (uncountable) The careful consideration of multiple factors; deliberation. Synonyms: see Thesaurus:consideration A very small amount, distance, etc.; a whit or jot. ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === Verb === thought simple past and past participle of think == Middle English == === Alternative forms === thoughte, thougt, thouhte, thoute thogt, thohte, thogh, þauht === Etymology === From Old English þōht, from Proto-West Germanic *þą̄ht, from Proto-Germanic *þanhtaz. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /θɔu̯xt/, /θɔxt/ === Noun === thought (plural thoughtes) product of mental activity ==== Descendants ==== English: thought Scots: thocht Yola: thaugkt ==== References ==== “thought, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.