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PlainSpell

thump

/θʌmp/noun, verb

thump is spelled T-H-U-M-P: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,017th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, thump means “A blow that produces a muffled sound” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of thump is thumps.

How many letters and syllables are in thump?

Letters5: T-H-U-M-P
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 1 million words; the 30,017th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

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).

How common is thump?

Thump appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,017th 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 thump?

  • /θʌmp/

Thump 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)-Wodencafe-thump.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-I_learned_some_phrases-thump.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of thump

  • thumps plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • thumping participle, present
  • thumped participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does thump mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A blow that produces a muffled sound.

  2. 2

    The sound of such a blow; a thud.

  3. 3

    colloquialdatedUsed to replace the vulgar or blasphemous element in "what the hell" and similar phrases.

    Where the thump have you been?!

  4. 4

    Synonym of bump (“sudden movement of underground strata”).

verb

  1. 1

    UKTo hit (someone or something) as if to make a thump.

  2. 2

    To cause to make a thumping sound.

    The cat thumped its tail in irritation.

  3. 3

    To thud or pound.

  4. 4

    To throb with a muffled rhythmic sound.

    Dance music thumped from the nightclub entrance.

  5. 5

    (of a rabbit) to hit the ground with the back legs to signal agitation.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Thump in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcoup sourd (blow), tambouriner (to throb with a muffled rhythmic sound)
Germandumpfer Schlag (blow), dumpf (sound)
Spanishgolpe sordo (blow), tamborilear, golpetear (to throb with a muffled rhythmic sound), ruido sordo (sound), golpear, azotar (to hit someone or something so as to make a…)

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 thump come from?

Mid 16th century, probably imitative.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after thump