thinken

English

Etymology

From Middle English thinken, thenchen, equivalent to think +‎ -en.

Verb

thinken

1. (obsolete) plural simple present of think
   • 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Februarie. Ægloga Secunda.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC; reprinted as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, The Shepheardes Calender […], London: John C. Nimmo, […], 1890, →OCLC, folio 4, recto:

     And when the ſhining ſunne laugheth once,
     You deemen, the Spꝛing is come attonce.
     Tho gynne you, fond flyes, the cold to ſcoꝛne,
     And, crowing in pypes made of greene coꝛne,
     You thinken to be Loꝛds of the yeare.

   • 1795, Joseph Palmer, “XXIX: Buttermere”, in A Fortnight's Ramble to the Lakes in Westmorland, Lancashire, and Cumberland‎^[1], second edition, London: J. Nichols, page 209:

     […] but other guides have gi'en them ſeck* fine neames, we do naw recollect um; but we mun naw contract um, as they thinken umſelves cleverer folks than we are."

   • 1885, Benjamin Brierly, Ab-o'th'-Yate in Yankeeland: The Results of Two Trips to America‎^[2], Manchester: Abel Heywood & Son, page 148:

     So lung as they dunno' know ut they could scrat th' top o' their stable wi' their ears they thinken they're hosses, an' worken like 'em.

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