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Added 8 October 2026

thunder

/ˈθʌndə/ noun

In Latin: tonitrus, tonitruum, tonus Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about thunder at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

The loud rumbling, cracking, or crashing sound caused by expansion of rapidly heated air around a lightning bolt.
Thunder is preceded by lightning.
A deep, rumbling noise resembling thunder.
Off in the distance, he heard the thunder of hoofbeats, signalling a stampede.
An alarming or startling threat or denunciation.

verb

To produce thunder; to sound, rattle, or roar, as a discharge of atmospheric electricity.
It thundered continuously.
To make a noise like thunder.
The train thundered along the tracks.
To (make something) move very fast (with loud noise).

Origin

From Middle English thunder, thonder, thundre, thonre, thunnere, þunre, from Old English þunor (“thunder”), from Proto-West Germanic *þunr, from Proto-Germanic *þunraz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ten-, *(s)tenh₂- (“to thunder”). Compare astound, astonish, stun. Germanic cognates include West Frisian tonger, Dutch donder, German Donner, Old Norse Þórr (English Thor), Danish torden, Norwegian Nynorsk tore. Other cognates include Persian تندر (tondar), Latin tonō, detonō, Ancient Greek στένω (sténō), στενάζω (stenázō), στόνος (stónos), Στέντωρ (Sténtōr), Irish torann, Welsh taran, Gaulish Taranis. Doublet of donner, Thunor, and Thor.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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