# trough

> English word · Noun · IPA /tɹɒf/ · frequency rank #16,606

## Definitions
1. A long, narrow container, open on top, for feeding or watering animals.
2. Any similarly shaped container.
3. Any similarly shaped container.
4. A short, narrow canal designed to hold water until it drains or evaporates.
5. An undivided metal urinal (plumbing fixture)
6. A gutter under the eaves of a building; an eaves trough.
7. A channel for conveying water or other farm liquids (such as milk) from place to place by gravity; any ‘U’ or ‘V’ cross-sectioned irrigation channel.
8. A long, narrow depression between waves or ridges; the low portion of a wave cycle.
9. A low turning point or a local minimum of a business cycle.
10. A linear atmospheric depression associated with a weather front.

## Etymology
PIE word
 *dóru
From Middle English trogh, from Old English troh, trog (“a trough, tub, basin, vessel for containing liquids or other materials”), from Proto-West Germanic *trog, from Proto-Germanic *trugą, *trugaz, from Proto-Indo-European *drukós, enlargement of *dóru (“tree”).
See also West Frisian trôch, Dutch trog, German Trog, Danish trug, Swedish tråg; also Middle Irish drochta (“wooden basin”), Old Armenian տարգալ (targal, “ladle, spoon”). More at tree.

## Easily confused with
- **truth** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/trough-vs-truth)
- **trout** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/trough-vs-trout)
- **troupe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/trough-vs-troupe)
- **touch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/touch-vs-trough)
- **tough** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tough-vs-trough)
- **though** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/though-vs-trough)
- **through** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/through-vs-trough)
- **thought** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thought-vs-trough)
- **thorough** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thorough-vs-trough)

## Common misspellings (9)
`rtough`, `torugh`, `troguh`, `trouggh`, `troughh`, `trouhg`, `trrough`, `truogh`, `ttrough`

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