thane
/θeɪn/noun
thane is spelled T-H-A-N-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 33,636th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, thane means “A rank of nobility in pre-Norman England, roughly equivalent to baron” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of thane is thanes.
How many letters and syllables are in thane?
| Letters | 5: T-H-A-N-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 33,636th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is thane?
Thane appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 33,636th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce thane?
- /θeɪn/
Thane has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-thane.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with thane?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as thane.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: neath.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of thane
- thanes plural
- thegn
- thayn
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does thane mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A rank of nobility in pre-Norman England, roughly equivalent to baron.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Thane in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense A rank of nobility in pre-Norman England, roughly equivalent to baron:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does thane come from?
From Middle English theyn, thein, þein, from Old English þæġn, þeġen, þeġn, from Proto-West Germanic *þegn (“man, warrior”), from Proto-Germanic *þegnaz (“man, warrior”), from Proto-Indo-European *teḱ- (“to give birth”); akin to Dutch degen, German Degen, Old Norse þegn and Ancient Greek τέκνον (téknon, “child”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).