thunder

See also: thundër

English

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈθʌndə/
• (General American) enPR: thŭn′dər, IPA^(key): /ˈθʌndɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌndə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: thun‧der

Noun

thunder (countable and uncountable, plural thunders)

1. The loud rumbling, cracking, or crashing sound caused by expansion of rapidly heated air around a lightning bolt.

   Thunder is preceded by lightning.

2. A deep, rumbling noise resembling thunder.

   Off in the distance, he heard the thunder of hoofbeats, signalling a stampede.

3. An alarming or startling threat or denunciation.
   • 1847, William H. Prescott, A History of the Conquest of Peru:

     The thunders of the Vatican could no longer strike into the heart of princes.

4. (obsolete) The discharge of electricity; a thunderbolt.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

     The revenging gods / 'Gainst parricides did all their thunders bend.

5. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) (figuratively) The spotlight.

   Shortly after I announced my pregnancy, he stole my thunder with his news of landing his dream job.

6. (literature) Synonym of thunder word
   • 1996, William York Tindall, A Reader's Guide to Finnegans Wake, page 31:

     Adam's fall and Vico's thunder are embodied in a word of a hundred letters, the first of ten thunders in the Wake.

Usage notes

• roll, clap, peal are some of the words used to count thunder e.g. A series of rolls/claps/peals of thunder were heard

Derived terms

• black as thunder
• black thunder
• blood and thunder
• by thunder
• castle thunder
• Chad Thundercock
• face like thunder
• heat thunder
• outthunder
• rethunder
• steal someone's thunder
• thunder and lightning
• thunderation
• thunderbird
• thunderblast
• thunderbolt
• thunderboomer
• thunderbox
• thunderbug
• thunderburst
• thunderclap
• thundercloud
• thunder cloud
• thundercrack
• thunder cross
• thundercunt
• Thunderdome
• thunder-drum
• thunderdunk
• thunderegg
• thunder egg
• thunder fever
• thunderfish
• thunderflash
• thunderful
• thunder god
• thunder god vine
• thundergust
• thunderhead
• thunderless
• thunderlight
• thunderlike
• thunder lizard
• thunder moon
• thundermug
• thunder mug
• thunderous
• thunderpeal
• thunder-plant
• thunder-plump
• thunder pot
• thunderproof
• thunder rod
• thunder run
• thunder sheet
• thundershock
• thundershower
• thunder sleet
• thunder snake
• thundersnow
• thundersome
• thundersquall
• thunderstick
• thunder stick
• thunder-stick
• thunderstone
• thunderstorm
• thunderstricken
• thunderstrike
• thunderstruck
• thunder-thighed
• thunder thighs
• thunder tube
• thunder-wheel
• thunderworm
• thundery
• upthunder

 

Descendants

• → Alemannic German: Thönder
• → Japanese: サンダー (sandā)
• → Tagalog: tanders
• → Tok Pisin: tanda

Translations

sound caused by lightning

• Abkhaz: aдыд (adəd)
• Adyghe: шыблэ (šəblɛ)
• Albanian: bubullimë (sq) f, mumrimë f
• Arabic: رَعْد (ar) m (raʕd)

  Egyptian Arabic: رعد m (raʕd)

  Hijazi Arabic: رعد m (raʕad, raʕd)

  Moroccan Arabic: رعد m (raʕd)

• Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܪܥܡܐ m (raʿmā)

• Armenian: որոտ (hy) (orot)
• Assamese: ঢেৰেকনি (dherekoni), ঢেৰেক (dherek)
• Asturian: troníu (ast) m, tronabríu (ast) m, tronada (ast) f, truenu (ast) m, renuberu (ast) m
• Atayal: matus bisuw
• Azerbaijani: göy gurultusu, ildırım (az)
• Balinese: grudug
• Belarusian: гром m (hrom), грымоты pl (hrymóty)
• Bengali: বজ্রধ্বনি (bn) (bojroddhoni)
• Bikol Central: dalugdog (bcl), daguldol (bcl)
• Brunei Malay: guruh
• Bulgarian: гръм (bg) m (grǎm)
• Burmese: မိုးကြိုး (my) (mui:krui:)
• Carpathian Rusyn: грум m (hrum)
• Catalan: tro (ca) m
• Cebuano: dalugdog
• Chamicuro: tswali
• Chechen: къовкъа (qʼovqʼa)
• Cherokee: ᎠᏴᏓᏆᎶᏍᎬ (ayvdaqualosgv)
• Chichewa: bingu
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 雷 (leoi⁴), 雷聲／雷声 (leoi⁴ sing¹), 雷鳴／雷鸣 (leoi⁴ ming⁴)

  Eastern Min: 雷公 (lài-gŭng)

  Hakka: 雷 (lùi), 雷公 (lùi-kûng)

  Hokkien: 雷 (zh-min-nan) (lûi), 雷公 (zh-min-nan) (lûi-kong)

  Mandarin: 雷 (zh) (léi), 雷聲／雷声 (zh) (léishēng), 雷鳴／雷鸣 (zh) (léimíng)

  Wu: 雷 (⁶le)

• Chuvash: аслати (aslat̬i)
• Czech: hrom (cs) m, zahřmění n
• Dalmatian: tun m
• Danish: torden (da) c
• Dutch: donder (nl) m
• Dzongkha: འབྲུག་སྐད ('brug skad)
• Erzya: пурьгине (puŕgińe)
• Esperanto: tondro (eo)
• Estonian: kõu
• Even: агди (agʒi)
• Evenki: агды (agdi)
• Faroese: tora f
• Finnish: jyrinä (fi), jyrähdys (fi)
• Franco-Provençal: tonêrro m
• French: tonnerre (fr) m
• Friulian: ton, tonade
• Galician: trono (gl) m, tróo m, bruio m, orzán m, trouso m, trebón (gl) m
• Georgian: ქუხილი (kuxili), ჭექა-ქუხილი (č̣eka-kuxili)
• German: Donner (de) m
• Gothic: 𐌸𐌴𐌹𐍈𐍉 f (þeiƕō)
• Greek: βροντή (el) f (vrontí)
• Greenlandic: kalleq
• Guaraní: sunu
• Haitian Creole: loray
• Hausa: tarnatsa
• Hebrew: רַעַם (he) m (ra'am)
• Higaonon: lugung
• Hindi: गरज (hi) f (garaj), गड़गड़ाहट (hi) f (gaṛagṛāhaṭ), राद (hi) (rād), गर्जन (hi) m (garjan)
• Hungarian: mennydörgés (hu), égzengés (hu)
• Icelandic: þruma (is) f
• Ido: tondro (io)
• Indonesian: guntur (id), guruh (id)
• Ingrian: ukko, jyry, jyrinä, ukonjyry
• Interlingua: tonitro
• Iranun: dalendeg
• Irish: toirneach (ga) m
• Italian: tuono (it) m
• Japanese: 雷 (ja) (kaminari), 雷鳴 (ja) (raimei)
• Javanese: bledhèg, gludhug (jv)
• Kalmyk: лу (lu)
• Kazakh: күн күркіреу (kün kürkıreu), күркіреу (kürkıreu)
• Khmer: ផ្គរ (km) (pkɔɔ)
• Klamath-Modoc: lmeys
• Komi-Zyrian: гым (gym)
• Korean: 우레 (ko) (ure), 천둥 (ko) (cheondung)
• Kott: ajak
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: birûsk (ku)

• Kyrgyz: күркүрөө (kürküröö)
• Lao: ຟ້າຮ້ອງ (lo) (fā hǭng)
• Latgalian: pārkiuņs
• Latin: tonitrus m, tonitruum n, tonus m
• Latvian: pērkons m
• Lezgi: гугрум (gugrum)
• Limburgish: dónder (li) n
• Lithuanian: griaustinis
• Lokono: kulakani
• Luxembourgish: Dimmer m, Donner m
• Macedonian: гром (mk) m (grom)
• Maguindanao: dalendeg
• Malagasy: ampy (mg)
• Malay: guruh (ms), guntur (ms)
• Malayalam: ഇടി (ml) (iṭi)
• Maltese: ragħad m
• Manchu: ᠠᡴᠵᠠᠨ (akjan)
• Mansaka: rugung
• Manx: taarnagh m
• Maore Comorian: guguma
• Maori: whaitiri
• Maranao: dalendeg, rogong
• Marathi: गर्जना f (garjanā), डरकाळी f (ḍarkāḷī), गडगडाट f (gaḍagḍāṭ)
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: кӱдырчӧ (küdyrčö)

  Western Mari: хӹдӹртӹш (hÿdÿrtÿš)

• Mon: ဓဂဵု
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: аянга (mn) (ajanga)

• Nanai: агди (agʒi)
• Navajo: iiʼniʼ
• Ngarrindjeri: munti
• Northern Sami: baján
• Northern Thai: ᨼ᩶ᩣᩁᩬ᩶ᨦ
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: torden (no) m

  Nynorsk: tore f

• Nyunga: koondarnangor
• Occitan: tron (oc) m, tronada m
• Odia: ଗର୍ଜନ (or) (garjana)
• Old English: þunor m
• Old High German: donar
• Old Norse: þórr m
• Oromo: bakakkaa
• Ossetian: ӕрвнӕрын (ærvnæryn)
• Persian: تندر (fa) (tondar), رعد (fa) (ra'd)
• Plautdietsch: Donna
• Polish: grzmot (pl) m, grom (pl) m (dated, poetic)
• Portuguese: trovão (pt) m
• Quechua: q'aqya
• Rhine Franconian: Dunner
• Romagnol: tràun m
• Romanian: tunet (ro) n
• Romansch: tun m, tung m
• Russian: гром (ru) m (grom)
• Samoan: fai'titili, ta'alili
• Sanskrit: गर्जन (sa) n (garjana)
• Sardinian: tronu
• Scots: thunner
• Scottish Gaelic: tàirneanach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: гром m, грмљавина f

  Roman: grom (sh) m, grmljavina (sh) f

• Shan: ၽႃႉလင် (phâ̰a lǎng)
• Sicilian: tronu (scn) m
• Sidamo: banqo
• Sinhalese: විදුලි කෙටීම (widuli keṭīma)
• Slovak: hrom (sk) m
• Slovene: grom (sl) m, grmenje n
• Solos: pina
• Somali: onkod (so)
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: hrimanje n

• Southern Altai: кӱркӱреш (kürküreš)
• Spanish: trueno (es) m
• Sranan Tongo: dondru
• Sumerian: 𒅗𒀭𒉌𒋛
• Sundanese: guludug (su)
• Swahili: ^{(please verify)} radi (sw) class 9/10
• Swedish: åska (sv) c, (åsk) smäll c, dunder (sv) c
• Tabasaran: гугрум (gugrum)
• Tagalog: kulog
• Tai Dam: ꪡ꫁ꪱꪵꪠ꫁ (ꞌphạ phẻ)
• Tajik: тундар (tundar), раъд (tg) (raʾd)
• Tamil: இடி (ta) (iṭi)
• Taos: nąłàcitʼə́otuna
• Tarifit: ajjaj m
• Tausug: daugdug
• Telugu: ఉరుము (te) (urumu)
• Tetum: rai-tarutu
• Thai: ฟ้าร้อง (th) (fáa-rɔ́ɔng)
• Tibetan: ལྡིར་སྒྲ (ldir sgra)
• Turkish: gök gürültüsü (tr), yıldırım (tr)
• Turkmen: ýyldyrym
• Tutelo: tuhangrua
• Tuvan: диңмирээшкин (diñmireeşkin)
• Udmurt: гудыри (gudyri)
• Ugaritic: 𐎗𐎓𐎚 (rʿt)
• Ukrainian: грім m (hrim)
• Urdu: گرج f (garaj), گڑگڑاہٹ f (gaṛgaṛāhaṭ), رعد m (raʿd)
• Uzbek: momaqaldiroq (uz)
• Venetian: ton (vec) m
• Vietnamese: sấm (vi)
• Volapük: töt
• Walloon: tonire (wa) f, tonoere (wa) f
• Waray-Waray: dalugdog
• Welsh: taranau f pl, tyrfau m pl, trystau m pl
• West Flemish: dunder m
• West Frisian: tonger c
• Western Bukidnon Manobo: ruɣung
• Winnebago: kʼoo
• Yakut: этиҥ (etiñ)
• Yámana: kalaša
• Zazaki: gumlerz
• Zhuang: byajraez

sound resembling thunder

• Armenian: որոտ (hy) (orot)
• Bulgarian: гърмеж (bg) m (gǎrmež)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 轟鳴／轰鸣 (zh) (hōngmíng)

• Czech: zahřmění n, hromová rána f, hřmění (cs) n
• Dutch: gedonder (nl) m
• Finnish: jyrinä (fi), jyrähtely (fi)
• Galician: balbordo m, trouso m
• German: Donnern (de) n
• Greek: κεραυνός (el) m (keravnós)
• Hungarian: dörgés (hu)
• Italian: rombo (it) m, schianto (it) m, boato (it) m
• Japanese: 雷鳴 (ja) (raimei)
• Polish: grzmot (pl) m
• Portuguese: trovoada (pt) f
• Rhine Franconian: Dunner
• Russian: гром (ru) m (grom), гро́хот (ru) m (gróxot)
• Scottish Gaelic: tàirneanach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тутањ m

  Roman: tutanj (sh) m

• Slovene: grmenje n
• Swedish: åskmuller (sv) n, muller (sv) n, åskdån n, dån (sv) n
• Ukrainian: грім m (hrim), гу́ркіт m (húrkit)

deep, rumbling noise

• Bulgarian: грохот (bg) (grohot)
• Czech: hřmění (cs) n, dunění (cs) n
• Dutch: gerommel (nl) n
• Finnish: jyrinä (fi), jylinä (fi), pauhu
• Galician: estoiro m, estrondo m, estourea f, balbordo m, bruiamento m, abousamento m
• German: Donnern (de) n
• Hungarian: robaj (hu)
• Irish: tormán m
• Italian: fragore (it) m, frastuono (it) m
• Japanese: 轟音 (ja) (gōon)
• Kott: ajak
• Polish: grzmot (pl) m
• Portuguese: estrondo (pt) m
• Rhine Franconian: Dunner
• Russian: ро́кот (ru) m (rókot)
• Scottish Gaelic: tàirneanach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тутњава f, тутњавина f

  Roman: tutnjava (sh) f, tutnjavina f

• Slovene: grmenje n
• Spanish: estruendo (es) m, fragor (es) m
• Swedish: mullrande (sv) n, dån (sv) n
• Ukrainian: гу́ркіт m (húrkit)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} رَعْد (ar) m (raʕd)
• Breton: ^{(please verify)} kurun (br) f, ^{(please verify)} taran (br) m
• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} tondro (eo)
• Guaraní: ^{(please verify)} sunu
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} gelegar (id), ^{(please verify)} suara petir , ^{(please verify)} suara halilintar
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} tonitro
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} birûsk (ku) f

• Rwanda-Rundi: ^{(please verify)} inkuba
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} ఉరుము (te) (urumu)
• Thai: ^{(please verify)} สายฟ้า (th) (sǎai-fáa)
• Tupinambá: ^{(please verify)} tupã sununga

See also

• lightning

Verb

thunder (third-person singular simple present thunders, present participle thundering, simple past and past participle thundered)

1. (impersonal) To produce thunder; to sound, rattle, or roar, as a discharge of atmospheric electricity.

   It thundered continuously.

2. (intransitive) To make a noise like thunder.

   The train thundered along the tracks.

3. (ergative) To (make something) move very fast (with loud noise).
   • 1983, “Forbidden Colours”, in David Sylvian (lyrics), Ryuichi Sakamoto (music), Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, performed by David Sylvian:

     Senseless years thunder by / Millions are willing to give their lives for you / Does nothing live on?

4. (intransitive, transitive) To say (something) with a loud, threatening voice.

   "Get back to work at once!", he thundered.

5. To produce something with incredible power.
   • 2011 January 19, Jonathan Stevenson, “Leeds 1 - 3 Arsenal”, in BBC‎^[1]:

     Just as it appeared Arsenal had taken the sting out of the tie, Johnson produced a moment of outrageous quality, thundering a bullet of a left foot shot out of the blue and into the top left-hand corner of Wojciech Szczesny's net with the Pole grasping at thin air.

Conjugation

Conjugation of thunder

infinitive	(to) thunder
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	thunder	thundered
2nd-person singular	thunder, thunderest†	thundered, thunderedst†
3rd-person singular	thunders, thundereth†	thundered
plural	thunder
subjunctive	thunder	thundered
imperative	thunder	—
participles	thundering	thundered

^†Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms

• (to say something with a loud, threatening voice): thunderer
• thundering herd problem

Translations

to make a noise like thunder

• Arabic: رَعَدَ (ar) (raʕada)
• Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܪܥܡ (rəʿem)

• Atayal: mu’ bicyu
• Breton: ^{(please verify)} ober kurun , ^{(please verify)} taranal, ^{(please verify)} taraniñ
• Bulgarian: гърмя (bg) (gǎrmja)
• Catalan: tronar (ca)
• Cherokee: ᎠᏴᏓᏆᎶᎠ (ayvdaqualoa)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 行雷 (haang⁴ leoi⁴)

  Hakka: 打雷公 (tá-lùi-kûng)

  Hokkien: 霆雷公 (tân-lûi-kong)

  Mandarin: 打雷 (zh) (dǎléi)

• Czech: hřmít (cs), zahřmět (cs) pf
• Dalmatian: tonur
• Dutch: donderen (nl)
• Esperanto: tondri
• Finnish: jyristä (fi), jyrähdellä (fi), jyrähtää (fi), pauhata (fi)
• French: tonner (fr)
• Friulian: tonâ
• Galician: toar (gl)
• German: donnern (de)

  Alemannic German: tschättere

• Hebrew: רעם (he) (ra'am)
• Hindi: राद (hi) (rād), गरजना (hi) (garajnā)
• Icelandic: þrymja
• Ido: tondrar (io)
• Ingrian: jyrähtää, jyrissä
• Italian: tuonare (it)
• Japanese: (it thunders) 雷が鳴る (かみなりがなる, kaminari ga naru), (to make a noise like thunder) 轟音を立てる (gōon o tateru)
• Kalmyk: күрҗңнх (kürjñnx)
• Kituba: duma
• Korean: 천둥이 울리다 (cheondung'i ullida)
• Latin: tono
• Luxembourgish: donneren
• Manchu: ᠠᡴᠵᠠᠮᠪᡳ (akjambi)
• Norwegian: tordne
• Occitan: tronar (oc)
• Polabian: gramăt impf
• Polish: grzmieć (pl), zagrzmieć
• Portuguese: trovoar (pt), trovejar (pt)
• Romanian: tuna (ro)
• Romansch: tunar, tuner
• Russian: греме́ть (ru) impf (gremétʹ), грохота́ть (ru) impf (groxotátʹ), громыха́ть (ru) impf (gromyxátʹ)
• Sanskrit: स्तनति (stanati)
• Sardinian: tronai, tronare
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: гр̀мети impf

  Roman: gr̀meti (sh) impf

• Slovak: hrmieť impf, zahrmieť pf
• Slovene: grmeti
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: grimaś impf

  Upper Sorbian: hrimać

• Spanish: tronar (es)
• Sranan Tongo: dondru
• Swedish: dundra (sv), dåna (sv), åska (sv)
• Thai: สายฟ้าฟาด (săaifáa fâat)
• Tibetan: འབྲུག་སྐད་རྒྱག ('brug skad rgyag)
• Ukrainian: гримі́ти impf (hrymíty), гуркота́ти impf (hurkotáty), гуркоті́ти impf (hurkotíty)
• Venetian: tonàre
• Welsh: taranu (cy)
• West Frisian: daverje

to talk with a loud, threatening voice

• Breton: taranal, taraniñ
• Bulgarian: говоря гръмогласно (govorja grǎmoglasno)
• Czech: hřmít (cs), hromovat
• Dutch: overdonderen (nl)
• Finnish: jyristä (fi), pauhata (fi)
• French: tonitruer (fr)
• Japanese: 怒鳴る (ja) (どなる, donaru)
• Korean: 고함치다 (gohamchida)
• Polish: gromić
• Portuguese: trovejar (pt)
• Romanian: tuna (ro)

transitive: say something with a loud, threatening voice

• Finnish: jyristä (fi)
• French: tonitruer (fr)
• Japanese: 怒鳴る (ja) (どなる, donaru)
• Romanian: tuna (ro)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} tondri
• German: ^{(please verify)} donnern (de)
• Guaraní: ^{(please verify)} sunu
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} gelegar (id)
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} tonar
• Latin: ^{(please verify)} tonare
• Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} tordne
• Thai: ^{(please verify)} ฟ้าผ่า (th) (fáapàa)
• Tupinambá: ^{(please verify)} sunung

See also

• thundering

Middle English

Noun

thunder

1. Alternative form of thonder