Skip to main content
PlainSpell

thunder

thun·derUK /ˈθʌndə/noun, verb

thunder is spelled T-H-U-N-D-E-R: 7 letters and 2 syllables (thun·der). It appears 14 times per million words in written English, the 5,679th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, thunder means “The loud rumbling, cracking, or crashing sound caused by expansion of rapidly heated air around a lightning bolt” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of thunder is thunders.

How many letters and syllables are in thunder?

Letters7: T-H-U-N-D-E-R
Syllables2: thun·der
In writing14 times per million words; the 5,679th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is thunder?

Thunder appears 14 times per million words in written English, the 5,679th 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 thunder?

  • British /ˈθʌndə/
  • /ˈfʌndə/
  • /ˈθʊndə/

Thunder has 2 syllables, split thun·der in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-thunder.wav, En-us-thunder.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with thunder?

3 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as thunder from its last stressed vowel (/ʌndə/, 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 thunder

  • thunders plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • thundering participle, present
  • thundered participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural

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

What does thunder mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    The loud rumbling, cracking, or crashing sound caused by expansion of rapidly heated air around a lightning bolt.

    Thunder is preceded by lightning.

  2. 2

    A deep, rumbling noise resembling thunder.

    Off in the distance, he heard the thunder of hoofbeats, signalling a stampede.

  3. 3

    An alarming or startling threat or denunciation.

  4. 4

    obsoleteThe discharge of electricity; a thunderbolt.

  5. 5

    Synonym of thunder word.

verb

  1. 1

    To produce thunder; to sound, rattle, or roar, as a discharge of atmospheric electricity.

    It thundered continuously.

  2. 2

    To make a noise like thunder.

    The train thundered along the tracks.

  3. 3

    To (make something) move very fast (with loud noise).

  4. 4

    To say (something) with a loud, threatening voice.

    "Get back to work at once!", he thundered.

  5. 5

    To produce something with incredible power.

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

How do you abbreviate thunder?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of thunder: thdr..

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

Thunder in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchtonnerre (sound caused by lightning), tonner (to make a noise like thunder), tonitruer (to talk with a loud, threatening voice), fulminer, tempêter (transitive: say something with a loud…)
GermanDonner, Dunner (sound caused by lightning), donnern, tschättere (to make a noise like thunder), Donnern (sound resembling thunder)
Portuguesetrovão (sound caused by lightning), trovoar, trovejar (to make a noise like thunder), trovoada (sound resembling thunder), estrondo (deep, rumbling noise)
Spanishtrueno (sound caused by lightning), tronar (to make a noise like thunder), estruendo, fragor (deep, rumbling noise)

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 thunder come from?

From Middle English thunder, thonder, thundre, thonre, thunnere, þunre, from Old English þunor (“thunder”), from Proto-West Germanic *þunr, from Proto-Germanic *þunraz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ten-, *(s)tenh₂- (“to thunder”). Compare astound, astonish, stun. Germanic cognates include West Frisian tonger, Dutch donder, German Donner, Old Norse Þórr (English Thor), Danish torden, Norwegian Nynorsk tore.

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

What to look up after thunder