thinken

Middle English

Alternative forms

• thenchen, thenken, thynken, thinke, think

Etymology

From Old English þenċan (“to think”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈθinkən/

Verb

thinken (third-person singular simple present thinketh, present participle thinkende, first-/third-person singular past indicative thought, past participle ithought)

1. To think, ponder; to deduce, figure out; to grasp, understand.
   • c. 1450, Prose Merlin:

     And in the menewhile that thei thoughten upon these thinges that thei hadde seyn, the squyer com the thridde tyme and smote his lorde sorer than he hadde don before.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1589, George Peele, An Eclogue Gratulatory:

     And for their mistress, thoughten the two swains,
     They moughten never take too mickle pains;

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. To pray.
3. To conceive of, imagine.
4. To recall, remember.
5. To reach a conclusion, to decide, resolve; to accept, believe; to consider, regard.
6. To focus on, pay attention to.
7. To plot, scheme; to anticipate, expect.
   • c. 1500, The Turke and Sir Gawain:

     All the giants thoughten then
     To have strucke out Sir Gawaines braine.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

8. To be sorry.
9. To feel.

Conjugation

Conjugation of thinken (weak irregular)

infinitive	(to) thinken, thinke
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	thinke	thoughte
2nd-person singular	thinkest	thoughtest
3rd-person singular	thinketh	thoughte
subjunctive singular	thinke
imperative singular		—
plural1	thinken, thinke	thoughten, thoughte
imperative plural	thinketh, thinke	—
participles	thinkynge, thinkende	thought, ythought

¹Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.

Descendants

• English: think
• Scots: think, thynk