Meanings
teach1
present singular third person teaches · participle present teaching · participle past taught · past taught · first person past singular taught · archaic present second person singular teachest · past second person singular taught · archaic past second person singular taughtest · present singular third person teaches · archaic present singular third person teacheth · past singular third person taught · past plural taught · past subjunctive taught · participle present teaching · participle past taught
- ditransitiveTo cause (someone) to learn or understand (something).
In Episode 3, Gia incorporates very distinct and strong gestures as she teaches Havelock the phrase, "Unte kowlting gut, to pochuye ke?" ("And everything will be okay, understand?")
2016 January 15, Bryan Enk, “Belter Creole 101”, in SYFY2 more examples
The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again;[…]. Now she had come to look upon the matter in its true proportions, and her anticipation of a possible chance of teaching him a lesson was a pleasure to behold.
1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLCDeep Blue taught us a great deal about the power of the human mind precisely because it could not reproduce the intuitive and logical leaps of Kasparov’s mind. A truly synthetic cell, built from scratch or even from preexisting components, will be a cell without ancestry, and it, too, will teach us a great deal about the underlying complexities of life without actually reproducing them.
2013 September-October, Rob Dorit, “Making Life from Scratch”, in American Scientist - ditransitiveTo cause to know the disagreeable consequences of some action.
I'll teach you to make fun of me!
- obsoletetransitiveTo show (someone) the way; to guide, conduct; to point, indicate.
‘The bliss is there’, mumbled the old man and taught to Heaven.
3 more examples
c1450, Mandeville's Travelsː Blessed God of might (the) most.. teach us the right way unto that bliss that lasteth aye.
c1460, Cursor Mundiː Till thy sweet sun uprose, thou keptest all our lay, how we should keep our belief there taught'st thou us the way.
So thus within a whyle as they thus talked the nyghte passed / and the daye shone / and thenne syre launcelot armed hym / and took his hors / and they taught hym to the Abbaye and thyder he rode within the space of two owrys
1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter V, in Le Morte Darthur, book VI
teach2
Teach3
Teach4
- A surname. Most commonly associated with the pirate Blackbeard, who gave his real name as Edward Teach, Thatch, or Tack.
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo pass on knowledge generally, especially as one's profession; to act as a teacher.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
teach · verb
- Proto-Indo-European*deyḱ-
- Proto-Germanic*taikijaną
- Proto-West Germanic*taikijan
- Old Englishtǣċan
- Middle Englishtechen
- Englishteach
From Middle English techen, from Old English tǣċan (“to show, declare, demonstrate; teach, instruct, train; assign, prescribe, direct; warn; persuade”), from Proto-West Germanic *taikijan, from Proto-Germanic *taikijaną (“to show”), from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to show”). Cognate with Scots tech, teich (“to teach”), German zeigen (“to show, point out”), zeihen (“accuse, blame”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍄𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌰𐌽 (gateihan, “to announce, declare, tell, show, display”), Latin dīcō (“speak, say, tell”), Ancient Greek δείκνυμι (deíknumi, “show, point out, explain, teach”), Sanskrit दिशति (diśati, “to point out, show, tell, teach”). More at token.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →teach · noun
- Middle Englishtechere
- Englishteacherclip.
- Englishteach
Clipping of teacher.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans leer, onderrig
- leerto pass on knowledge
- onderrigto pass on knowledge
Ancient Greek διδάσκω, μαθητεύω
- διδάσκω (didáskō)to pass on knowledge
- μαθητεύω (mathēteúō)to pass on knowledge
Arabic عَلَّمَ, عَلَّمَ
- عَلَّمَ (ʕallama)to cause to learn or understand
- عَلَّمَ (ʕallama)to pass on knowledge
Basque irakatsi
- irakatsito pass on knowledge
Bengali শেখান
- শেখান (śekhan)to pass on knowledge
Bulgarian преподавам, обучавам
- преподавам (prepodavam)to pass on one's knowledge as one's profession
- обучавам (obučavam)to cause to learn or understand
- у́ча (úča)to pass on knowledge
- уча (uča)to pass on knowledge
- обучавам (obučavam)to pass on knowledge
Catalan ensenyar
- ensenyarto pass on knowledge
Chinese Cantonese 教
- 教 (gaau³)to pass on knowledge
Chinese Mandarin 教學 /教学, 講課 /讲课
- 教學 /教学 (jiāoxué)to pass on one's knowledge as one's profession
- 講課 /讲课 (jiǎngkè)to pass on one's knowledge as one's profession
- 教書 /教书 (jiāoshū)to pass on one's knowledge as one's profession
- 教训 (jiàoxùn)obsolete: to show the way
- 教 (jiāo)to pass on knowledge
- 教授 (jiāoshòu)to pass on knowledge
Czech učit
- učitto pass on knowledge
Danish undervise, lære
- underviseto pass on knowledge
- læreto pass on knowledge
Dutch lesgeven, aanleren
- lesgevento pass on one's knowledge as one's profession
- aanlerento pass on knowledge
- lerento pass on knowledge
- onderwijzento pass on knowledge
- lesgevento pass on knowledge
Esperanto instrui, lernigi
- instruito pass on knowledge
- lernigito pass on knowledge
Estonian õpetama
- õpetamato pass on knowledge
Finnish opettaa, opettaa
- opettaato pass on one's knowledge as one's profession
- opettaaobsolete: to show the way
- opettaato pass on knowledge
French enseigner, enseigner
- enseignerto pass on one's knowledge as one's profession
- enseignerto cause to learn or understand
- guiderobsolete: to show the way
- apprendreto pass on knowledge
- enseignerto pass on knowledge
German unterrichten, lehren
- unterrichtento pass on one's knowledge as one's profession
- lehrento cause to learn or understand
- lehrento pass on knowledge
- beibringento pass on knowledge
- unterrichtento pass on knowledge
Greek διδάσκω
- διδάσκω (didásko)to pass on knowledge
Hawaiian aʻo
- aʻoto pass on knowledge
Hebrew לימד \ לִמֵּד
- לימד \ לִמֵּד (liméd)to pass on knowledge
Hindi पढ़ाना, सिखाना
- पढ़ाना (paṛhānā)to pass on one's knowledge as one's profession
- सिखाना (sikhānā)to pass on knowledge
- शिक्षा देना (śikṣā denā)to pass on knowledge
- पढ़ाना (paṛhānā)to pass on knowledge
Hungarian tanít, tanít
- tanítto pass on one's knowledge as one's profession
- tanítto pass on knowledge
- megtanítto pass on knowledge
- oktatto pass on knowledge
Icelandic kenna
- kennato pass on knowledge
Indonesian ajar, mengajar
- ajarto pass on knowledge
- mengajarto pass on knowledge
- mengajarito pass on knowledge
Irish múin, teagasc
- múinto pass on knowledge
- teagascto pass on knowledge
Italian insegnare
- insegnareto pass on knowledge
Japanese 教える
- 教える (oshieru)to pass on knowledge
Korean 가르치다
- 가르치다 (gareuchida)to pass on knowledge
Latin addoceo, doceo
- addoceoobsolete: to show the way
- doceoobsolete: to show the way
- doceōto pass on knowledge
- instruoto pass on knowledge
- addoceoto pass on knowledge
Latvian mācīt
- mācītto pass on knowledge
Lithuanian mokyti
- mokytito pass on knowledge
Malay mengajar
- mengajarto pass on knowledge
Norwegian undervise, lære
- underviseto pass on knowledge
- læreto pass on knowledge
Persian نمایاندن, یاد دادن درس دادن
- نمایاندن (nemâyândan)obsolete: to show the way
- یاد دادن درس دادن (yâd dâdan)to pass on knowledge
- آموزاندن (âmuzândan)to pass on knowledge
Polish uczyć, nauczyć
- uczyćto pass on knowledge
- nauczyćto pass on knowledge
Portuguese dar aula, lecionar
- dar aulato pass on one's knowledge as one's profession
- lecionarto pass on one's knowledge as one's profession
- ensinarto pass on one's knowledge as one's profession
- ensinarto pass on knowledge
Romanian instrui, preda
- instruito pass on one's knowledge as one's profession
- predato pass on one's knowledge as one's profession
- învățato pass on knowledge
Russian преподава́ть, преподава́ть
- преподава́ть (prepodavátʹ)to pass on one's knowledge as one's profession
- преподава́ть (prepodavátʹ)to pass on knowledge
- учи́ть (učítʹ)to pass on knowledge
- научи́ть (naučítʹ)to pass on knowledge
- обуча́ть (obučátʹ)to pass on knowledge
- обучи́ть (obučítʹ)to pass on knowledge
Scottish Gaelic teagaisg, foghlaim
- teagaisgto pass on knowledge
- foghlaimto pass on knowledge
Slovak učiť
- učiťto pass on knowledge
Spanish enseñar
- enseñarto pass on knowledge
Swahili kufundisha
- kufundishato pass on knowledge
Swedish undervisa, lära
- undervisato pass on one's knowledge as one's profession
- lärato pass on knowledge
- lära utto pass on knowledge
Tamil கற்பி, சொல்லிக்கொடு
- கற்பி (kaṟpi)to pass on knowledge
- சொல்லிக்கொடு (collikkoṭu)to pass on knowledge
- சொல்லித்தா (collittā)to pass on knowledge
- கற்றுக்கொடு (kaṟṟukkoṭu)to pass on knowledge
- கற்றுத்தா (kaṟṟuttā)to pass on knowledge
Thai สอน
- สอน (sɔ̌ɔn)to pass on knowledge
Turkish öğretmek, yol göstermek
- öğretmekto pass on one's knowledge as one's profession
- yol göstermekobsolete: to show the way
- öğretmekto pass on knowledge
- ders vermekto pass on knowledge
Ukrainian виклада́ти, вчи́ти
- виклада́ти (vykladáty)to pass on one's knowledge as one's profession
- вчи́ти (včýty)to pass on knowledge
- навчи́ти (navčýty)to pass on knowledge
- виклада́ти (vykladáty)to pass on knowledge
Urdu پڑھانا, سکھانا
- پڑھانا (paṛhānā)to pass on one's knowledge as one's profession
- سکھانا (sikhānā)to pass on knowledge
- پڑھانا (paṛhānā)to pass on knowledge
Vietnamese dạy, dạy học
- dạyto pass on knowledge
- dạy họcto pass on knowledge
- dạy bảoto pass on knowledge
- dạy dỗto pass on knowledge
Welsh athrawiaethu
- athrawiaethuto pass on knowledge
Yiddish לערנען
- לערנען (lernen)to pass on knowledge
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with teach
Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
teach. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/teach
“teach.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/teach. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “teach,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/teach.
Source: teach on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.