thaw

CEFRB2

/θoː/

verb · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To become warm enough for ice to melt.

  2. 02

    noun

    The melting of ice or snow.

Examples

  • The hoarfrost has not begun to thaw yet.

  • This river sometimes overflows after the thaw.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
1

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To cause (something inactive) to become active; also, to cause (something unfeeling) to have feelings.

  2. To gradually cause (someone or something that is very cold) to warm up.

  3. To gradually melt, dissolve, or become fluid; to soften from frozen.

More examples

In context

  • Her anger has thawed.

  • It’s beginning to thaw.

  • the ice thaws

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The frozen river will blank as the weather gets warmer in spring.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

The verb is derived from Middle English thawen, thowen (“to melt (ice, snow, etc.), thaw”), from Old English þāwian, *þāwan (“to thaw”), from Proto-West Germanic *þauwjan (“to melt, thaw; to digest; to dissolve”), from Proto-Germanic *þawjaną (“to thaw”), from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂- (“to melt; to flow, stream”). The noun is derived from Late Middle English thawe, thowe (“melting of ice, snow, etc., thawing”), from thawen, thowen (verb) (see above). cognates * Dutch dooien (“to thaw”) * German tauen (“to thaw”) * German Low German deien (“to thaw”) * Icelandic þeyja (“to thaw”) * Saterland Frisian daie, dauje (“to thaw”) * Swedish töa (“to thaw”) * West Frisian teie (“to thaw”)