thresh

/θɹɛʃ/

//θɹɛʃ// verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"thresh" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“thresh” is uncommon English (frequency #75,489 among 3,151 “T” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#75,489
frequency rank, English
3,151
“T” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To separate the grain from the straw or husks (chaff) by mechanical beating, with a flail or machinery, or by driving animals over them.

Corpus desk

Index EN-thresh · thresh · English

thresh · rank #75,489 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #75,489
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,151
  • PHOTO-FINISH TGI

Nearest frequency peer: TGI (-2 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “thresh”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “thresh” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for thresh
PropertyValue
Headwordthresh
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/θɹɛʃ/
Letters6
Frequency rank#75,489
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “thresh” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).threshfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “TGI” (#75,487), “terroir” (#75,486), “tinea” (#75,492). Among 3,151 “T” headwords, “thresh” is #75,489. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

thresh is uncommon English at frequency #75,489 among 3,151 “T” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /θɹɛʃ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 6 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for thresh, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *terh₁-der.? Proto-Germanic *þreskaną Old English þrescan Middle English threschen English thresh From Middle English thresshen, threshen, threschen, from Old English þrescan, from Proto-Germanic *þreskaną. Compare West Fr… The correct English form is thresh, spelled T-H-R-E-S-H.

Definition

  1. 1
    To separate the grain from the straw or husks (chaff) by mechanical beating, with a flail or machinery, or by driving animals over them.
  2. 2
    To separate the grain from the straw or husks (chaff) by mechanical beating, with a flail or machinery, or by driving animals over them.
  3. 3
    To beat soundly, usually with some tool such as a stick or whip; to drub.
  4. 4
    To violently toss the limbs about.
  5. 5
    To belabor; to go over repeatedly, especially an argument.
  6. 6
    To drive through adverse conditions (wind, waves).

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how thresh appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The jay fell all lopsidedly and threshing, as though it were having a fit. The ground killed it.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *terh₁-der.? Proto-Germanic *þreskaną Old English þrescan Middle English threschen English thresh From Middle English thresshen, threshen, threschen, from Old English þrescan, from Proto-Germanic *þreskaną. Compare West Frisian terskje, Dutch dorsen, Low German dörschen, German dreschen, Danish tærske, Swedish tröska, Yiddish דרעשן (dreshn). Doublet of thrash.

Synonyms

thrash

This word in other languages

trillar(Español)battre(Français)dreschen(Deutsch)malhar(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "thresh"?
"thresh" is spelled T-H-R-E-S-H. The IPA pronunciation is /θɹɛʃ/.
What does "thresh" mean?
As a verb, "thresh" means: To separate the grain from the straw or husks (chaff) by mechanical beating, with a flail or machinery, or by driving animals over them.
How do you pronounce "thresh"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "thresh" is /θɹɛʃ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "thresh"?
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *terh₁-der.? Proto-Germanic *þreskaną Old English þrescan Middle English threschen English thresh From Middle English thresshen, threshen, threschen, from Old English þrescan, from Proto-Germanic *þreskaną. Compa... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "thresh", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

tempeh#75,481townie#75,499Swales#75,464Sukhoi#75,456

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list