# thunder

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈθʌndə/ · frequency rank #5,744

## Definitions
1. The loud rumbling, cracking, or crashing sound caused by expansion of rapidly heated air around a lightning bolt.
2. A deep, rumbling noise resembling thunder.
3. An alarming or startling threat or denunciation.
4. The discharge of electricity; a thunderbolt.
5. Synonym of thunder word.

## Etymology
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. Other cognates include Persian تندر (tondar), Latin tonō, detonō, Ancient Greek στένω (sténō), στενάζω (stenázō), στόνος (stónos), Στέντωρ (Sténtōr), Irish torann, Welsh taran, Gaulish Taranis. Doublet of donner, Thunor, and Thor.

## Easily confused with
- **tuner** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thunder-vs-tuner)
- **tinder** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thunder-vs-tinder)
- **tender** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tender-vs-thunder)
- **thinner** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thinner-vs-thunder)
- **thinker** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thinker-vs-thunder)

## Common misspellings (11)
`htunder`, `thhunder`, `thnuder`, `thudner`, `thundder`, `thunderr`, `thundre`, `thunedr`, `thunnder`, `tthunder`, `tuhnder`

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