Etymology

threaten

threat·en
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Today it means: To make a threat against someone; to use threats. Full definition →

Middle English thretenen ← Old English þrēatnian
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited fromþrēatnian“to urge, force, compel”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromthretenen
  3. English todaythreaten

From Middle English thretenen, from Old English þrēatnian (“to urge, force, compel”), equivalent to threat + -en.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.