# threat

> English word · Noun · IPA /θɹɛt/ · frequency rank #2,506

## Definitions
1. An expression of intent to injure or punish another.
2. An indication of potential or imminent danger.
3. A person or object that is regarded as a danger; a menace.

## Etymology
From Middle English threte, thret, thrat, thræt, threat, from Old English þrēat (“crowd, swarm, troop, army, press; pressure, trouble, calamity, oppression, force, violence, threat”), from Proto-Germanic *þrautaz, closely tied to Proto-Germanic *þrautą (“displeasure, complaint, grievance, labour, toil”), from Proto-Indo-European *trewd- (“to squeeze, push, press”), whence also Middle Low German drōt (“threat, menace, danger”), Middle High German drōz (“annoyance, disgust, horror, terror, fright”), Icelandic þraut (“struggle, labour, distress”), Russian труд (trud, “work, labour”), Polish trud (“hard work”), Latin trūdō (“push”, verb).

## Easily confused with
- **three** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/threat-vs-three)
- **treat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/threat-vs-treat)
- **threw** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/threat-vs-threw)
- **Trent** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/threat-vs-trent)
- **tread** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/threat-vs-tread)
- **treaty** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/threat-vs-treaty)
- **throat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/threat-vs-throat)
- **thrust** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/threat-vs-thrust)
- **thrift** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/threat-vs-thrift)
- **threes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/threat-vs-threes)
- **threats** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/threat-vs-threats)
- **threaten** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/threat-vs-threaten)
- **that** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/that-vs-threat)
- **Thea** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thea-vs-threat)
- **theft** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/theft-vs-threat)
- **thread** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thread-vs-threat)
- **threads** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/threads-vs-threat)
- **Thoreau** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thoreau-vs-threat)

## Common misspellings (9)
`htreat`, `therat`, `thhreat`, `thraet`, `threatt`, `threta`, `thrreat`, `trheat`, `tthreat`

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