thorough
/ˈθʌɹə/adjective, noun
thorough is spelled T-H-O-R-O-U-G-H. The wrong spelling people search most is thourough: about 870 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 12 of all searches for the word. Thorough is an adjective meaning “Painstaking and careful not to miss or omit any detail”.
How many letters and syllables are in thorough?
| Letters | 8: T-H-O-R-O-U-G-H |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 9.3 times per million words; the 7,445th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 3; the most searched, thourough, about 870 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell thorough?
Thorough is spelled T-H-O-R-O-U-G-H. 3 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for thorough in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is thorough?
Thorough appears 9.3 times per million words in written English, the 7,445th 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 thorough?
- British /ˈθʌɹə/
- /ˈθʊɹə/
- /ˈθʌɾə/
Thorough has 2 syllables (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: En-uk-thorough.ogg, En-us-ne-thorough.ogg, En-us-thorough.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with thorough?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as thorough from its last stressed vowel (/ʌɹə/, British pronunciation):
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 thorough
- thorougher comparative
- more thorough comparative
- thoroughest superlative
- most thorough superlative
- thoro informal
- thoroughs plural
- through-
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does thorough mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Painstaking and careful not to miss or omit any detail.
The Prime Minister announced a thorough investigation into the death of a father-of-two in police custody.
- 2
Utter; complete; absolute.
noun
- 1
UKA furrow between two ridges, to drain off the surface water.
preposition
- 1
archaicThrough.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Thorough in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | minutieux, soigné , exhaustif |
| German | gründlich |
| Portuguese | minucioso, rigoroso, detalhado, cabal , exaustivo |
| Spanish | detallista, esmerado, circunstanciado, cabal |
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 thorough come from?
From Middle English thoruȝ, þoruȝ, from Old English þuruh, a byform of Old English þurh, whence comes English through. The adjective derives from the preposition and adverb. The word developed a syllabic form in cases where the word was fully stressed: when it was used as an adverb, adjective, or noun, and less commonly when used as a preposition.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).