Meanings
plural thresholds
- broadlyAn entrance; the door or gate of a house.
Shy. You that did voide your rume vpon my beard, / And foote me as you ſpurne a ſtranger curre / Ouer your threſhold, […]
c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], page 166 - figurativelyThe outset of something; the point of entry, or the beginning of an action.
on the threshold of maturity
2 more examples
I arrived at last, did obeisance to my uncle, and told him everything. He thought it over and said: ' […] At the threshold of death, how dare I give you permission to go to England, to cross the seas? But I will not stand in your way. It is your mother's permission which really matters. If she permit you, then godspeed! Tell her I will not interfere. You will go with my blessings.'
1927-29, M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai, Part I, Chapter xiThe first half of this century has been referred to as the golden age of medicine. To me it seems more probable that we are on the threshold of a much greater age.
1951 March, John W. Cline, “The Future of Medicine”, in Northwest Medicine, volume 50, number 3, Portland, Ore.: Northwest Medical Publishing Association, page 165 - aeronauticsThe start of the landing area of a runway.
- The wage or salary at which income tax becomes due.
- The point where one is mentally or physically vulnerable in response to a provocation or to other nuisances.
Synonyms & antonyms
antonym(s) of “bottom-most part of a doorway”
More synonyms by meaning
nounthe entrance (the space in a wall) through which you enter or leave a room or building; the space that a door can close
nounthe sill of a door; a horizontal piece of wood or stone that forms the bottom of a doorway and offers support when passing through a doorway
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*terh₁-“to rub, turn”
- Proto-Germanic*þreskaną
- Proto-Germanic*þreskudlaz
- Old Englishþresċold, þerxold, þrexwold“doorsill, entryway”
- Middle Englishthreschwolde
- Englishthreshold
From Middle English threschwolde, threscholde, from Old English þresċold, þerxold, þrexwold (“doorsill, entryway”), from Proto-Germanic *þreskudlaz, *þreskūþlijaz, *þreskwaþluz, from Proto-Germanic *þreskaną, *þreskwaną (“to thresh, (originally) to tread”), from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub, turn”). Cognate with Low German Drüssel (“threshold”), dialectal German Drischaufel, Drissufle, Trüschübel (“threshold”), Danish tærskel (“threshold”), Norwegian Bokmål terskel (“threshold”), Norwegian Nynorsk treskald (“threshold”), Swedish tröskel (“threshold”), dialectal Swedish träskvald (“threshold”), Icelandic þröskuldur (“threshold”). Pronunciations such as “thresh-hold” are un-etymological and result from analogy with hold.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek βηλός
- βηλός (bēlós)bottom-most part of a doorway
Arabic عَتَبَة, بِدَايَة
- عَتَبَة (ʕataba)bottom-most part of a doorway
- بِدَايَة (bidāya)outset of an action or project
Basque atalase
- atalasebottom-most part of a doorway
Bengali গোবরাট
- গোবরাট (gōboraṭ)bottom-most part of a doorway
Bulgarian праг, преддве́рие
- праг (prag)bottom-most part of a doorway
- преддве́рие (preddvérie)entrance
- нача́ло (načálo)outset of an action or project
- праг (prag)income at which income tax becomes due
Catalan llindar, llindar
- llindarbottom-most part of a doorway
- llindarentrance
- punt de partidaoutset of an action or project
- capçalerastart of the landing area
- llindarpoint at which an action is triggered
- límitpoint where one mentally or physically is vulnerable in response to provocation or to particular things in general
- llindar de tolerànciapoint where one mentally or physically is vulnerable in response to provocation or to particular things in general
Chinese Mandarin 門檻 /门槛, 門限 /门限
- 門檻 /门槛 (ménkǎn)bottom-most part of a doorway
- 門限 /门限 (ménxiàn)bottom-most part of a doorway
- 閾值 /阈值 (yùzhí)point at which an action is triggered
Czech práh
- práhbottom-most part of a doorway
Danish tærskel, dørtærskel
- tærskelbottom-most part of a doorway
- dørtærskelbottom-most part of a doorway
- tærskelentrance
- tærskelpoint at which an action is triggered
- tærskelværdipoint at which an action is triggered
- skattefri bundgrænseincome at which income tax becomes due
Dutch drempel, drempelwaarde
- drempelbottom-most part of a doorway
- drempelwaardepoint at which an action is triggered
Esperanto sojlo, sojlo
- sojlobottom-most part of a doorway
- sojloentrance
- enirejoentrance
Estonian künnis
- künnisbottom-most part of a doorway
Finnish kynnys, kynnys
- kynnysbottom-most part of a doorway
- kynnysentrance
- aloituspisteoutset of an action or project
- kynnysstart of the landing area
- kynnysarvopoint at which an action is triggered
- alarajaincome at which income tax becomes due
- kynnyspoint where one mentally or physically is vulnerable in response to provocation or to particular things in general
French seuil, seuil
- seuilbottom-most part of a doorway
- seuiloutset of an action or project
- seuilpoint at which an action is triggered
- seuilincome at which income tax becomes due
- seuil de tolérancepoint where one mentally or physically is vulnerable in response to provocation or to particular things in general
German Schwelle, Türschwelle
- Schwellebottom-most part of a doorway
- Türschwellebottom-most part of a doorway
- Türschwelleentrance
- Schwelleentrance
- Ausgangspunktoutset of an action or project
- Beginnoutset of an action or project
- Anfangoutset of an action or project
- Landeschwellestart of the landing area
- Schwellepoint at which an action is triggered
Greek κατώφλι, κατώφλι
- κατώφλι (katófli)bottom-most part of a doorway
- κατώφλι (katófli)entrance
- αφετηρία (afetiría)outset of an action or project
- κατώφλι (katófli)point at which an action is triggered
- ουδός (oudós)point where one mentally or physically is vulnerable in response to provocation or to particular things in general
Hebrew סַף, מִפְתָּן
- סַף (saf)bottom-most part of a doorway
- מִפְתָּן (miftán)bottom-most part of a doorway
- סַף (saf)entrance
- מִפְתָּן (miftán)entrance
- סַף (saf)point at which an action is triggered
- רַף (raf)point at which an action is triggered
- סַף (saf)income at which income tax becomes due
- מַדְרֵגָה (madregá)income at which income tax becomes due
- סַף (saf)point where one mentally or physically is vulnerable in response to provocation or to particular things in general
Hindi डेवढ़ी, दहलीज़
- डेवढ़ी (ḍevṛhī)bottom-most part of a doorway
- दहलीज़ (dahlīz)point at which an action is triggered
Hungarian küszöb, küszöbérték
- küszöbbottom-most part of a doorway
- küszöbértékpoint at which an action is triggered
Icelandic þröskuldur
- þröskuldurbottom-most part of a doorway
Indonesian ambang
- ambangbottom-most part of a doorway
Irish tairseach
- tairseachbottom-most part of a doorway
Italian soglia, soglia di casa
- sogliabottom-most part of a doorway
- soglia di casaentrance
- entrataentrance
- uscioentrance
- sogliapoint at which an action is triggered
Japanese 敷居, 敷居
- 敷居 (shikii)bottom-most part of a doorway
- 敷居 (shikii)entrance
- 閾値 (shikiichi)point at which an action is triggered
Korean 문턱, 문지방
- 문턱 (munteok)bottom-most part of a doorway
- 문지방 (munjibang)bottom-most part of a doorway
- 역치 (yeokchi)point at which an action is triggered
Latin līmen
- līmenbottom-most part of a doorway
Latvian slieksnis
- slieksnisbottom-most part of a doorway
Lithuanian slenkstis
- slenkstisbottom-most part of a doorway
Malay ambang
- ambangbottom-most part of a doorway
Māori paewae, paepae
- paewaebottom-most part of a doorway
- paepaebottom-most part of a doorway
- paepaepotobottom-most part of a doorway
Norwegian Bokmål terskel, dørstokk
- terskelbottom-most part of a doorway
- dørstokkbottom-most part of a doorway
- terskelentrance
- dørstokkentrance
- terskelverdipoint at which an action is triggered
- fribeløpincome at which income tax becomes due
- frikortsgrenseincome at which income tax becomes due
- tålegrensepoint where one mentally or physically is vulnerable in response to provocation or to particular things in general
Polish próg, próg
- prógbottom-most part of a doorway
- prógentrance
- przedsionekentrance
- prógpoint at which an action is triggered
- prógincome at which income tax becomes due
Portuguese umbral, soleira
- umbralbottom-most part of a doorway
- soleirabottom-most part of a doorway
- limiarbottom-most part of a doorway
- patamarentrance
- patamaresentrance
- cabeceirastart of the landing area
- limiarpoint at which an action is triggered
- umbralpoint at which an action is triggered
Romanian prag
- pragbottom-most part of a doorway
Russian поро́г, преддве́рие
- поро́г (poróg)bottom-most part of a doorway
- преддве́рие (preddvérije)outset of an action or project
- нача́ло (načálo)outset of an action or project
- поро́г (poróg)point at which an action is triggered
- поро́г (poróg)income at which income tax becomes due
Scottish Gaelic stairsneach
- stairsneachbottom-most part of a doorway
Slovak prah
- prahbottom-most part of a doorway
Spanish umbral, limen
- umbralbottom-most part of a doorway
- limenbottom-most part of a doorway
- trancobottom-most part of a doorway
- tranquillobottom-most part of a doorway
- fallancabottom-most part of a doorway
- umbralentrance
- umbralpoint at which an action is triggered
Swedish tröskel, tröskelvärde
- tröskelbottom-most part of a doorway
- tröskelvärdepoint at which an action is triggered
- fribeloppincome at which income tax becomes due
Tagalog gilid, gilid
- gilidpoint at which an action is triggered
- gilidpoint where one mentally or physically is vulnerable in response to provocation or to particular things in general
Thai ธรณีประตู
- ธรณีประตู (tɔɔ-rá-nii-bprà-dtuu)bottom-most part of a doorway
Turkish eşik, eşik
- eşikbottom-most part of a doorway
- eşikpoint at which an action is triggered
Ukrainian порі́г
- порі́г (poríh)bottom-most part of a doorway
Urdu ڈیوڑی, ڈیوڑھی
- ڈیوڑی (ḍeoṛī)bottom-most part of a doorway
- ڈیوڑھی (ḍeoṛhī)bottom-most part of a doorway
- آسْتانَہ (āstāna)bottom-most part of a doorway
- دَرْگاہ (dargāh)bottom-most part of a doorway
- دہلیز (dahlīz)point at which an action is triggered
Vietnamese ngưỡng, ngưỡng cửa
- ngưỡngbottom-most part of a doorway
- ngưỡng cửabottom-most part of a doorway
Welsh trothwy, rhiniog
- trothwybottom-most part of a doorway
- rhiniogbottom-most part of a doorway
- trothwypoint at which an action is triggered
Yiddish שוועל
- שוועל (shvel)bottom-most part of a doorway
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with threshold
Cite this entry
threshold. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/threshold
“threshold.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/threshold. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “threshold,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/threshold.
Source: threshold on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.