Thick
/θɪk/noun
Having a large distance between opposite sides; not thin.
Did you know?English thick comes from a Proto-Germanic root meaning “dense” or “plentiful,” and it’s distantly related to words like Dutch dik and German dick, showing how old sound-patterns carried the idea of mass and heaviness across Europe.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*tegu-
“to be dense, thick”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*þekuz
“thick, dense”
Old English
OE
þicce
“thick, dense, close-set”
Middle English
EN
thikke
“thick, dense, abundant”
Modern English
English
thick
“having a large distance between opposite sides; dense or closely packed”