# thaw

> English word · Verb · IPA /θɔː/ · frequency rank #23,130

## Definitions
1. To gradually melt, dissolve, or become fluid; to soften from frozen.
2. To become sufficiently warm to melt ice and snow, said in reference to the weather.
3. To grow gentle or genial.
4. To gradually cause frozen things (such as earth, snow, ice) to melt, soften, or dissolve.

## Etymology
From Middle English thowen, thawen, from Old English þawian, *þāwan (“to thaw”), from Proto-West Germanic *þauwjan, from Proto-Germanic *þawjaną (“to thaw”), from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂- (“to melt”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian daie, dauje (“to thaw”), West Frisian teie (“to thaw”), Dutch dooien (“to thaw”), German Low German deien (“to thaw”), German tauen (“to thaw”), Swedish töa (“to thaw”), Icelandic þeyja (“to thaw”).

## Easily confused with
- **the** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thaw-vs-the)
- **tho** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thaw-vs-tho)
- **thy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thaw-vs-thy)
- **tow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thaw-vs-tow)
- **TSA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thaw-vs-tsa)
- **THC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thaw-vs-thc)
- **Tia** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thaw-vs-tia)
- **Thi** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thaw-vs-thi)
- **Thu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thaw-vs-thu)
- **tra** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thaw-vs-tra)
- **TWA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thaw-vs-twa)
- **toa** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thaw-vs-toa)
- **THT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thaw-vs-tht)
- **this** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thaw-vs-this)
- **they** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thaw-vs-they)
- **them** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thaw-vs-them)
- **then** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thaw-vs-then)
- **thus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thaw-vs-thus)
- **thin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thaw-vs-thin)
- **trap** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thaw-vs-trap)

## Common misspellings (6)
`htaw`, `tahw`, `thaww`, `thhaw`, `thwa`, `tthaw`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/thaw