• enPR: thĭngk, IPA: /θɪŋk/, [θɪŋk]
  • (Appalachian) IPA: [θæŋk]
  • (th-fronting) IPA: [fɪŋk]

From Middle English thinken, thynken, thenken, thenchen, from Old English þenċan, from Proto-West Germanic *þankijan, from Proto-Germanic *þankijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *teng-.

Cognate with Scots think, thynk ("to think"), Northern Frisian teenk, taanke, tanke, tånke ("to think"), Saterland Frisian toanke, Western Frisian tinke, Dutch denken, Afrikaans dink, Low German denken, dinken ("to think"), German denken, Danish tænke, Swedish tänka, Norwegian Bokmål tenke, Norwegian Nynorsk tenkja, Icelandic þekkja, Latin tongeō.

think (thinks, present participle thinking; simple past and past participle thought)

1. (transitive) To ponder, to go over in one's head.

   Idly, the detective thought what his next move should be.

   • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC ↗:

     So this was my future home, I thought! Certainly it made a brave picture. I had seen similar ones fired-in on many a Heidelberg stein. Backed by towering hills, […] a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.

2. (intransitive) To communicate to oneself in one's mind, to try to find a solution to a problem.

   I thought for three hours about the problem and still couldn’t find the solution.

   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC ↗:

     Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ and if you don't look out there's likely to be some nice, lively dog taking an interest in your underpinning.”

3. (intransitive) To conceive of something or someone (usually followed by of; infrequently, by on).

   I tend to think of her as rather ugly.

4. (transitive) To be of opinion (that); to consider, judge, regard, or look upon (something) as.

   At the time I thought his adamant refusal to give in right.

   I hope you won’t think me stupid if I ask you what that means.

   I think she is pretty, contrary to most people.

   Boxing is thought to be a dangerous sport.

   • c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene ii], page 255 ↗, column 2:

     My brother he is in Elizium, / Perchance he is not drown'd: What thinke you, ſaylors?.

   • 1865, Henry David Thoreau, Cape Cod, Chapter IX. "The Sea and the Desert", page 182.

     […] one man showed me a young oak which he had transplanted from behind the town, thinking it an apple-tree.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter III, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗:

     Now all this was very fine, but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had come to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so.

5. (transitive) To guess; to reckon.

   I think she’ll pass the examination.

6. To plan; to be considering; to be of a mind (to do something).
   • 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC ↗:

     The cupbearer shrugged up his shoulders in displeasure. "I thought to have lodged him in the solere chamber," said he […]

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗:

     “Well,” I answered, at first with uncertainty, then with inspiration, “he would do splendidly to lead your cotillon, if you think of having one.” ¶ “So you do not dance, Mr. Crocker?” ¶ I was somewhat set back by her perspicuity.

7. To presume; to venture.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Matthew 3:9 ↗:

     Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father.

8. (informal, used to show obviousness or agreement) Ellipsis of think so

   These plants are dead.
   Uh, you think?

• (ponder) See Thesaurus:ponder
• (communicate to oneself in one's mind) See Thesaurus:think
• (be of the opinion (that)) See Thesaurus:have opinion
• (guess, reckon) guess See Thesaurus:suppose
• (consider, judge, regard something as) See Thesaurus:deem

• forthink
• thought
• thunk
• thank

• French: réfléchir à, ruminer, penser
• German: nachdenken, überlegen
• Italian: pensare, cogitare, ponderare
• Portuguese: pensar
• Russian: обду́мывать
• Spanish: pensar

• French: penser, réfléchir, songer
• German: denken
• Italian: pensare, riflettere, rimuginare
• Portuguese: pensar, refletir
• Russian: ду́мать
• Spanish: pensar

• French: trouver, considérer, voir
• Italian: ritenere, considerare, reputare
• Portuguese: achar, considerar, ter por, ter como
• Russian: счита́ть

• French: penser, considérer, être d'avis, estimer, croire, trouver
• German: denken, finden (especially Switzerland), meinen
• Italian: credere, pensare, ritenere
• Portuguese: achar
• Russian: ду́мать
• Spanish: pensar, creer, opinar

• French: penser, croire, estimer
• German: denken, glauben
• Italian: credere, pensare, supporre
• Portuguese: achar
• Russian: ду́мать
• Spanish: suponer, pensar

• French: trouver, considérer
• German: halten für
• Italian: considerare, trovare
• Portuguese: achar, considerar
• Russian: ду́мать
• Spanish: creer

think (uncountable)

1. (chiefly, UK) An act of thinking; consideration (of something).

   I'll have a think about that and let you know.

• French: pensée, réflexion
• German: Gedanke, Denke
• Portuguese: pensada
• Russian: размышление
• Spanish: pensada, pensamiento

From Middle English thinken, thynken, thenken (also thinchen, thünchen), from Old English þyncan, from Proto-Germanic *þunkijaną.

Cognate with Dutch dunken, German dünken, Danish tykkes, Swedish tycka, Icelandic þykja. More at methinks.

think (thinks, present participle thinking; simple past and past participle thought)

1. (obsolete except in methinks) To seem, to appear.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter [https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/MaloryWks2/1:17.5?rgn=div2;view=fulltext V], in Le Morte Darthur, book XV:

     And whanne syr launcelot sawe he myghte not ryde vp in to the montayne / he there alyghte vnder an Appel tree / […] / And then he leid hym doune to slepe / And thenne hym thoughte there came an old man afore hym / the whiche sayd A launcelot of euylle feythe and poure byleue / wherfor is thy wille tourned soo lyghtely toward thy dedely synne

     And when Sir Lancelot saw that he could not ride up into the mountain, he alighted under an apple tree […] and then he lay down to sleep. And then it seemed to him [lit. him thought] that an old man came before him who said: "Lancelot, of evil faith and poor belief, why is thy will turned so lightly towards thy deadly sin?"

• Portuguese: parecer