thirst
pronunciation
How to pronounce thirst in British English:
UK [θɜːst]
How to pronounce thirst in American English:
US [θɜːrst]
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- Noun:
- a physiological need to drink
- strong desire for something (not food or drink)
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- Verb:
- feel the need to drink
- have a craving, appetite, or great desire for
Word Origin
- thirst
- thirst: [OE] The etymological notion underlying the word thirst is of being ‘dry’. For it goes back ultimately to the Indo-European base *trs, *tors- ‘dry’, which also produced Latin torrēre ‘parch’ (source of English toast, torrid, etc). From this was formed the prehistoric West Germanic noun *thurstu, which has evolved into German durst, Dutch dorst, and English thirst.=> terrace, toast, torrid
- thirst (v.)
- Old English þyrstan "to thirst, thirst after," from the noun (see thirst (n.)); the figurative sense of the verb was present in Old English. Compare Old Saxon thurstian, Dutch dorsten, Old High German dursten, German dürsten, all verbs from nouns. Related: Thirsted; thirsting.
- thirst (n.)
- Old English þurst, from Proto-Germanic *thurstu- (cognates: Old Saxon thurst, Frisian torst, Dutch dorst, Old High German and German durst), from Proto-Germanic verbal stem *thurs- (cognates: Gothic thaursjan, Old English thyrre), from PIE root *ters- "dry" (see terrain). Figurative sense of "vehement desire" is attested from c. 1200.
Example
- 1. You brain does not differentiate between hunger and thirst .
- 2. The name aaron that 's dying of thirst .
- 3. This thirst proved a scourge .
- 4. Both water intake and thirst sensation decline with age , and so does mental function .
- 5. Biological models of sex tend to view love as a mammalian drive , much like hunger or thirst .