# thwack

> English word · Verb · IPA /θwæk/ · frequency rank #88,928

## Definitions
1. To hit (someone or something) hard, especially with a flat implement or a stick; to thrash, to whack.
2. To drive or force (someone or something) by, or as if by, beating or hitting; to knock.
3. To pack (people or things) closely together; to cram.
4. To decisively defeat (someone) in a contest; to beat, to thrash.
5. To crowd or pack (a place or thing) with people, objects, etc.
6. To fall down hard with a thump.
7. To be crammed or filled full.
8. Of people: to crowd or pack a place.

## Etymology
The verb is probably:
* partly onomatopoeic, from the sound of something being beaten (compare whack); and
* partly derived from Late Middle English twakken, twake (“to hit (someone) with something; to pat; to stroke”), probably from Middle English thakken, thakke (“to dab; to pat; to stroke”) [and other forms] (whence thack (obsolete except Britain, dialectal)), from Old English þaccian (“to beat; to pat; to touch softly, stroke; to strike gently, clap, tap”), from Proto-West Germanic *þakkōn, from Proto-Germanic *þakwōną (“to pat; to tap; to touch”), from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- (“to grasp with the hand; to touch”). Doublet of tangent.
The noun and interjection are derived from the verb.
Cognates
* Latin tangō (“touch”)
* Old Dutch þakolōn (“to stroke”)
* Old Norse þykkr (“a blow, thump, thwack”) (Icelandic þjaka, þjökka (“to beat, thump, thwack”); Norwegian tjåka (“to strike, beat”))

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