threw

T1H4R1E1W4
UK/θɹuː/British, Southern, Standard/θɹʉw/Canada, US/θɹu/Australia, New Zealand/θɹʉː/

A form of throw — To hurl; to release (an object) with some force from one’s hands, an apparatus, etc. so that it moves rapidly through the air.

OriginMiddle English threw ← Old English þrēow ← Proto-Germanic *þeþrō →
CommonScrabble 11
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

verb
  1. pastsimple past of throw
  2. colloquialnonstandardparticiplepastpast participle of throw

    "But I'd have threw lead at him if I'd been scared enough. I wasn't scared enough."

    1967, John McPhee, The Pine Barrens, page 66
    2 more examples

    I may have threw it away then, or I may have threw it away after I got the passport and didn't need the various other stuff any long.

    1979, Investigation of the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr […] , U.S. Government Printing Office, page 606

    I never should have had all them niggas in my bed for all them years. Never should have threw you out.

    2005 June 1, Tracy Brown, Criminal Minded: A Novel, St. Martin's Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 152

Origin

  1. Proto-Germanic*þeþrō
  2. Old Englishþrēow
  3. Middle Englishthrew
  4. Englishthrew

From Middle English threw, from Old English þrēow (first and third person past tense of þrāwan), from West Germanic *þreu, from Northwest Germanic *þrerō, from Proto-Germanic *þeþrō (first and third person past tense of *þrēaną), reduplication of *þrēaną.

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with threw

younewdowhoviewtwothroughreviewutooqfewbluefaqduetruecontinuegnuquesushoeCPUvenuePeru
All rhymes →

Sounds the same

throughthru (not in Wales)

Anagrams

Werth
Cite this entry
APA

threw. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/threw

MLA

“threw.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/threw. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “threw,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/threw.

Source: threw on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.