# thirst
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English thirst, thurst, from Old English þurst, from Proto-West Germanic *þurstu, from Proto-Germanic *þurstuz, from Proto-Indo-European *ters- (“dry”).
Germanic cognates include Old High German thurst, Middle High German durst, German Durst, Old Saxon thurst, Old Dutch thursti, Middle Dutch dorst, dorste, Dutch dorst, Old Norse þorsti (Swedish törst, Icelandic þorsti, Danish tørst, Norwegian tørst). Indo-European cognates include Ancient Greek τέρσομαι (térsomai), Albanian djersë (“sweat”), Sanskrit तृष्णा (tṛṣṇā, “desire; thirst”), Sanskrit तृष्यति (tṛ́ṣyati), Latin terra, Latin torridus.

### Pronunciation

* enPR: thûrst
* (UK) IPA: /θɜːst/
* (US) IPA: /θɝst/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)st

### Noun

thirst (countable and uncountable, plural thirsts)
* A sensation of dryness in the throat associated with a craving for liquids, produced by deprivation of drink, or by some other cause (such as fear, excitement, etc.) which stops the secretion of the pharyngeal mucous membrane.
    We developed quite a thirst during our hike.
    He had quite a thirst on and so headed to his favourite Dublin pub.
* The condition producing the sensation of thirst.
    If you go out in the desert for long without water, the thirst can drive you mad.
** 1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter IV, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC:"We haven't one chance for life in a hundred thousand if we don't find food and water upon Caprona. This water coming out of the cliff is not salt; but neither is it fit to drink, though each of us has drunk. It is fair to assume that inland the river is fed by pure streams, that there are fruits and herbs and game. Shall we lie out here and die of thirst and starvation with a land of plenty possibly only a few hundred yards away? We have the means for navigating a subterranean river. Are we too cowardly to utilize this means?"
* (figuratively) A want and eager desire (for something); a craving or longing.
    She had a real thirst for news and that greatly helped her career.
* (figuratively) Sexual lust.
    He had a thirst for her and she had the same for him.

#### Synonyms

* (figuratively): craving, longing

#### Derived terms

* bloodthirst
* thirst-quenching
* thirst snake
* thirst trap
* thirst-buster
* thirsty

#### Translations

Abkhaz: ашабара (aŝabara)
Afrikaans: dors
Albanian: etje (sq) f, et (sq) m
Amharic: ጥም (ṭəm), ጥማት (ṭəmat)
Arabic: عَطَش (ar) m (ʕaṭaš), ظَمَأ (ẓamaʔ)
Egyptian Arabic: عطش m (ʕaṭaš)
Aragonese: set f
Armenian: ծարավ (hy) (carav), ծարավություն (hy) (caravutʻyun)
Aromanian: seate f
Assamese: পিয়াহ (piah)
Asturian: sede (ast) f
Aymara: please add this translation if you can
Azerbaijani: susuzluq
Bashkir: please add this translation if you can
Basque: egarria
Belarusian: пра́га f (práha), сма́га f (smáha)
Bengali: তৃষ্ণা (bn) (triśna), পিয়াস (bn) (piẏaś)
Bhojpuri: प्यास (pyās)
Bikol Central: paha (bcl)
Breton: sehed
Bulgarian: жа́жда (bg) f (žážda)
Burmese: အငတ် (my) (a.ngat) (hunger and thirst)
Buryat: ангалга (angalga)
Catalan: set (ca) f
Cebuano: uhaw
Central Atlas Tamazight: ⴼⴰⴷ (fad)
Chechen: хьогалла (ḥʳogalla)
Cherokee: ᎣᏔᏕᎩᏍᎩ (otadegisgi)
Chichewa: ludzu
Chinese:
Mandarin: 口渴 (zh) (kǒukě)
Corsican: sete (co)
Czech: žízeň (cs) f
Dalmatian: sait f
Danish: tørst (da) c
Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can
Dutch: dorst (nl)
Egyptian: (jbt)
Coptic: ⲉⲓⲃⲉ (eibe), ⲓⲃⲓ (ibi)
Esperanto: soifo
Estonian: janu (et)
Ewe: please add this translation if you can
Extremaduran: sedi
Faroese: tosti m
Finnish: jano (fi)
French: soif (fr) f
Friulian: sêt f
Galician: sede (gl) f
Ge'ez: ጽምእ (ṣəmʾ)
Georgian: წყურვილი (c̣q̇urvili)
German: Durst (de) m
Gothic: 𐌸𐌰𐌿𐍂𐍃𐍄𐌴𐌹 f (þaurstei)
Greek: δίψα (el) f (dípsa)
Ancient: δίψος n (dípsos)
Greenlandic: imerusunneq
Gujarati: તરસ (taras), પ્યાસ f (pyās)
Haitian Creole: swaf dlo
Hausa: ƙishi (ha)
Hawaiian: make wai
Hebrew: צָמָא (he) m (tsamá), צימאון m (tsimaon)
Hiligaynon: uhaw
Hindi: प्यास (hi) f (pyās), तृष्णा (hi) f (tŕṣṇā), पिपासा (hi) f (pipāsā), तृषा (hi) (tŕṣā), उदन्या (hi) f (udanyā)
Hungarian: szomjúság (hu), szomj (hu)
Icelandic: þorsti (is)
Ido: dursto (io)
Igbo: agu mmiṛi
Indonesian: haus (id)
Ingush: хьогал (ḥʳogal)
Interlingua: sete
Irish: tart (ga) m, íota f
Italian: sete (it) f
Japanese: 喉の渇き (のどのかわき, nodo no kawaki), 口渇 (こうかつ, kōkatsu), 渇 (ja) (かつ, katsu), 渇き (ja) (かわき, kawaki)
Kannada: ಬಾಯಾರಿಕೆ (kn) (bāyārike)
Kapampangan: kau, mau
Kazakh: аңсау (añsau), шөл (şöl), шөлдеу (şöldeu), сусау (susau)
Khmer: សម្រេក (km) (sɑmreek)
Korean: 목마름 (mongmareum), 갈증(渴症) (ko) (galjeung)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: تینو (tînu)
Kyrgyz: суусоо (suusoo)
Lao: please add this translation if you can
Latin: sitis (la) f
Latvian: slāpes f pl
Lithuanian: troškulys m
Livonian: jūomiznǟlga, viednǟlga
Lombard: set (lmo) f
Luganda: ennyonta
Luxembourgish: Duuscht m
Macedonian: жед f (žed)
Maguindanao: kawaw, waw
Malagasy: hetaheta (mg)
Malay: kehausan, kedahagaan
Malayalam: ദാഹം (ml) (dāhaṁ)
Maltese: għatx (mt)
Manx: paays
Maranao: kawaw, waw
Marathi: तहान (tahān)
Mewati: पिस (pis)
Mirandese: please add this translation if you can
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: цангаа (mn) (cangaa)
Nepali: तिर्खा (tirkhā)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: tørste (no) m
Nynorsk: tørste m
Occitan: set (oc) f
Odia: ଶୋଷ (or) (śosha), ତୃଷା (or) (trushā)
Old Church Slavonic:
Cyrillic: жѧжда f (žęžda)
Old East Slavic: жажа f (žaža)
Old Norse: þorsti m
Paiwan: qusau
Pali: pipāsā f
Papiamentu: set
Pashto: تشنک (ps) m (tošnak)
Persian: تشنگی (fa) (tešnegi)
Piedmontese: sè f
Plautdietsch: Darscht m
Polish: pragnienie (pl) n
Portuguese: sede (pt) f
Prakrit: 𑀇𑀡𑁆𑀳𑀸 f (iṇhā), 𑀉𑀤𑀡𑁆𑀡𑀸 f (udaṇṇā), 𑀉𑀤𑀦𑁆𑀦𑀸 f (udannā), 𑀢𑀡𑁆𑀳𑀸 f (taṇhā), 𑀢𑀺𑀲𑀸 f (tisā), 𑀧𑀺𑀯𑀸𑀲𑀸 f (pivāsā)
Punjabi: please add this translation if you can
Romanian: sete (ro) f
Romansch: said, set
Russian: жа́жда (ru) f (žážda), сма́га (ru) f (smága) (regional)
Sanskrit: see Thesaurus:तृष्णा
Sardinian: side f, sidi f
Scots: please add this translation if you can
Scottish Gaelic: pathadh m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: же̑ђ f, жеда f
Roman: žȇđ (sh) f, žeda f
Sicilian: siti (scn) f, siti (scn) f
Sindhi: please add this translation if you can
Sinhalese: please add this translation if you can
Slovak: smäd m
Slovene: žeja (sl) f
Somali: harraad (so)
Spanish: sed (es) f
Sranan Tongo: dreiwatra
Swahili: kiu (sw)
Swedish: törst (sv) c
Tagalog: uhaw
Tajik: ташнагӣ (tg) (tašnagi)
Tamil: தாகம் (ta) (tākam)
Tausug: uhaw
Telugu: దాహం (te) (dāhaṁ)
Thai: ความกระหาย (th) (kwaam-grà-hǎai)
Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
Tigrinya: ጽምኢ (ṣəmʾi), ጽምኣት (ṣəmʾat)
Turkish: susuzluk (tr)
Turkmen: teşnelik
Tuvan: please add this translation if you can
Ukrainian: спра́га (uk) (spráha), жа́га f (žáha), сма́га f (smáha)
Urdu: پیاس f (pyās)
Uyghur: تەشنالىق (teshnaliq)
Uzbek: chanqoqlik (uz), tashnalik (uz)
Venetan: sée, sé, sef, sen (vec)
Vietnamese: khát (vi)
Volapük: soaf (vo)
Walloon: soe (wa)
Welsh: syched (cy) m
West Frisian: toarst c
Wolof: mahre
Xhosa: unxano
Yiddish: דאָרשט (dorsht)
Yoruba: oungbẹ
Zulu: ukoma
ǃXóõ: ǁʻân :

#### See also

* hunger

### Verb

thirst (third-person singular simple present thirsts, present participle thirsting, simple past and past participle thirsted)
* (intransitive) To be thirsty.
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 17:3:The people thirsted there for water.
* (intransitive, usually followed by "for") To desire vehemently.
    I thirst for knowledge and education will sate me.to be thirsted for one's blood
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 42:2:My soul thirsteth for […] the living God.
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 5:6:Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness.

#### Translations

Arabic: عَطِشَ (ar) (ʕaṭiša), ظَمِئَ (ẓamiʔa)
Armenian: ծարավել (hy) (caravel)
Aromanian: nsitedz
Azerbaijani: susamaq (az) (dated)
Bashkir: һыуһау (hıwhaw)
Bulgarian: жаден съм (žaden sǎm)
Catalan: sedejar (ca)
Cherokee: ᎤᏔᏕᎩᎠ (utadegia)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 渴 (zh) (kě)
Czech: žíznit (cs)
Danish: tørste (da)
Egyptian: (jbj)
Coptic: ⲉⲓⲃⲉ (eibe), ⲓⲃⲓ (ibi)
Faroese: tysta
French: avoir soif (fr)
Ge'ez: ጸምአ (ṣämʾä)
German: dürsten (de) (rare), dursten (de) (literary), Durst haben
Gothic: 𐌸𐌰𐌿𐍂𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (þaursjan)
Greek: διψάω (el) (dipsáo)
Ancient: διψάω (dipsáō)
Hebrew: צָמֵא (he) (tsaméʾ)
Ido: durstar (io)
Italian: avere sete
Kyrgyz: суусун (ky) (suusun)
Latin: sitiō
Lithuanian: trokšti
Mongolian: цангах (mn) (cangax)
Norwegian: tørste (no)
Ottoman Turkish: صوسامق (susamak)
Polish: być spragnionym (pl)
Portuguese: ter sede, estar com sede
Quechua: ch'akichikuy, ch'akiy
Romanian: înseta (ro), fie sete (with dative)
Russian: испы́тывать жа́жду impf (ispýtyvatʹ žáždu), хоте́ть пить impf (xotétʹ pitʹ)
Sanskrit: तृष्यति (sa) (tṛṣyati)
Spanish: tener sed
Swedish: törsta (sv)
Tigre: ጸምኣ (ṣämʾa)
Tigrinya: ጸምኤ (ṣämʾe)
Turkish: susamak (tr) :

### Further reading

* “thirst”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* “thirst”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

### Anagrams

* T-shirt, t-shirt, thrist