threshold

English

Etymology

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”), from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub, turn”).

Cognate with Low German Drüssel (“threshold”), dialectal German Drischaufel, Drissufle, Trüschübel (“threshold”), Danish tærskel (“threshold”), Norwegian terskel (“threshold”), Swedish tröskel (“threshold”), dialectal Swedish träskvald (“threshold”), Icelandic þröskuldur (“threshold”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈθɹɛʃ(h)əʊld/, (goat split) [ˈθɹɛʃ(h)ɒʊɫd]
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈθɹɛʃ(h)oʊld/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊld

Noun

threshold (plural thresholds)

1. The lowermost part of a doorway that one crosses to enter; a sill.
2. (by extension) An entrance; the door or gate of a house.
   • 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:

     Shy. You that did voide your rume vpon my beard, / And foote me as you ſpurne a ſtranger curre / Ouer your threſhold, […]

3. (by extension) Any end or boundary.
4. (figurative) The outset of something; the point of entry, or the beginning of an action.
   • 1927-29, M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai, Part I, Chapter xi:

     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.'

   • 1951 March, John W. Cline, “The Future of Medicine”, in Northwest Medicine, volume 50, number 3, Portland, Ore.: Northwest Medical Publishing Association, page 165:

     The 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.

5. (aviation) The start of the landing area of a runway.
6. (engineering) The quantitative point at which an action is triggered, especially a lower limit.
7. The wage or salary at which income tax becomes due.
8. The point where one is mentally or physically vulnerable in response to a provocation or to other nuisances.

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “bottom-most part of a doorway”): lintel

Derived terms

• thresholding
• thresholdless
• thresholdlike

 

multiword expressions

• absolute threshold
• cycle threshold
• displaced threshold
• election threshold
• epidemic threshold
• Micawber threshold
• pain threshold
• threshold braking
• threshold effect
• threshold of originality
• threshold potential
• threshold worker

 

Translations

bottom-most part of a doorway

• Albanian: shqem (sq) m, shkam m, prag (sq) m
• Arabic: عَتَبَة f (ʕataba)
• Armenian: շեմք (hy) (šemkʻ), սեմ (hy) (sem)
• Azerbaijani: astana (az), kandar (az)
• Bashkir: тупһа (tupha), буҫаға (buśağa)
• Basque: atalase
• Belarusian: паро́г m (paróh)
• Bengali: গোবরাট (bn) (gōboraṭ)
• Breton: treuzoù (br) m pl
• Bulgarian: праг (bg) m (prag)
• Burmese: တံခါးခုံ (my) (tamhka:hkum), ဖိနပ်ချွတ် (my) (hpi.naphkywat), အပေါက်ဝ (my) (a.pauk-wa.)
• Catalan: llindar (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 門檻 / 门槛 (zh) (ménkǎn), 門限 / 门限 (zh) (ménxiàn)

• Chuvash: пусаха (pus̬ah̬a) , алӑк янаххи (alăk̬ janahhi)
• Crimean Tatar: bosağa
• Czech: práh (cs) m
• Danish: tærskel (da) c, dørtærskel c
• Dutch: dorpel (nl), drempel (nl)
• Esperanto: sojlo
• Estonian: künnis
• Finnish: kynnys (fi)
• French: seuil (fr) m
• Galician: limiar (gl) m
• Georgian: ზღურბლი (ka) (zɣurbli)
• German: Schwelle (de) f, Türschwelle (de) f
• Greek: κατώφλι (el) n (katófli)

  Ancient: βηλός m (bēlós)

• Hebrew: סַף (he) m (saf), מִפְתָּן (he) m (miftán)
• Hindi: डेवढ़ी f (ḍevṛhī)
• Hungarian: küszöb (hu)
• Icelandic: þröskuldur (is) m
• Indonesian: ambang (id)
• Irish: tairseach f
• Italian: soglia (it) m
• Japanese: 敷居 (ja) (しきい, shikii)
• Karachay Balkar: босагъа (bosağa)
• Kazakh: табалдырық (tabaldyryq), босаға (bosağa)
• Khmer: ធរណីទ្វារ (thɔɔrĕəʼnəytviə)
• Korean: 문턱 (munteok), 문지방(門地枋) (ko) (munjibang)
• Kumyk: посагъа (posağa)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: şîpane (ku), derazînk (ku)

• Kyrgyz: босого (ky) (bosogo)
• Lao: ທໍຣະນີປະຕູ (thǭ ra nī pa tū)
• Latgalian: slīksnis m
• Latin: līmen n
• Latvian: slieksnis m
• Lithuanian: slenkstis (lt) m
• Macedonian: праг m (prag)
• Malay: ambang (ms)
• Maori: paewae, paepae, paepaepoto
• Marathi: उंबरठा (mr) m (umbarṭhā)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: босго (mn) (bosgo)

• Nogai: босага (bosaga)
• Norman: ché d'la porte m, pas dé l'us m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: terskel (no) m, dørstokk m

• Occitan: lindal (oc) m, sulhet, solar (oc) m, pompidor (oc) m
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: прагъ m (pragŭ)

• Old East Slavic: порогъ m (porogŭ)
• Ossetian: къӕсӕр (k’æsær)
• Ottoman Turkish: اشیك (eşik)
• Pashto: آستانه (ps) f (āstāna), درګا f (dargā)
• Persian: آستان (fa) (âstân), درگاه (fa) (dargâh), آستانه (fa) (âstâne)
• Polabian: роrg m
• Polish: próg (pl) m
• Portuguese: umbral (pt) m, soleira (pt) f, limiar (pt) m
• Romanian: prag (ro) n
• Russian: поро́г (ru) m (poróg)
• Scottish Gaelic: stairsneach f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пра̏г m

  Roman: prȁg (sh) m

• Shor: позаа , позаға
• Slovak: prah m
• Slovene: prag (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: prog m

  Upper Sorbian: рrоh m

• Southern Altai: бозого (bozogo)
• Spanish: umbral (es) m
• Swedish: tröskel (sv) c
• Tajik: остона (tg) (ostona), даргоҳ (dargoh)
• Tatar: бусага (tt) (busağa)
• Telugu: గడప (te) n (gaḍapa)
• Thai: ธรณีประตู (th) (tɔɔ-rá-nii-bprà-dtuu)
• Turkish: eşik (tr)
• Turkmen: bosaga (tk)
• Tuvan: бозага (bozaga) , казапча (kazapça) , эргин (ergin)
• Ukrainian: порі́г m (poríh)
• Urdu: ڈیوڑی f (ḍeoṛī), ڈیوڑھی f (ḍeoṛhī), آسْتانَہ (ur) (āstānā)
• Uyghur: بوسۇغا (bosugha)
• Uzbek: ostona (uz), boʻsagʻa (uz)
• Vietnamese: ngưỡng (vi), ngưỡng cửa (vi)
• Volapük: soliad (vo), (house) domasoliad
• Walloon: soû (wa) m
• Welsh: trothwy m, rhiniog m
• Yiddish: שוועל (shvel)

entrance

• Bulgarian: преддве́рие (bg) n (preddvérie)
• Catalan: llindar (ca) m
• Danish: tærskel (da) c
• Esperanto: sojlo, enirejo
• Finnish: kynnys (fi)
• Galician: limiar (gl) m
• Greek: κατώφλι (el) n (katófli)
• Hebrew: סַף (he) m (saf), מִפְתָּן (he) m (miftán)
• Italian: soglia di casa f, entrata (it) f, uscio (it) m
• Japanese: 敷居 (ja) (しきい, shikii)
• Macedonian: праг m (prag)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: terskel (no) m, dørstokk m

• Ottoman Turkish: اشیك (eşik)
• Polish: próg (pl) m, przedsionek (pl) m
• Portuguese: patamar (pt) m, patamares pl
• Spanish: umbral (es) m, entrada (es) f

start of the landing area

• Finnish: kynnys (fi)
• Portuguese: cabeceira (pt) f

point at which an action is triggered

• Armenian: շեմ (hy) (šem)
• Catalan: llindar (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 閾值 / 阈值 (zh) (yùzhí)

• Danish: tærskel (da) c, tærskelværdi c
• Dutch: drempelwaarde (nl) c
• Finnish: kynnysarvo
• French: seuil (fr)
• Galician: limiar (gl) m
• German: Schwelle (de)
• Greek: κατώφλι (el) n (katófli)
• Hebrew: סַף (he) m (saf), רַף (he) m (raf)
• Hindi: दहलीज़ f (dahlīz)
• Hungarian: küszöbérték (hu)
• Italian: soglia (it)
• Japanese: 閾値 (ja) (しきい​ち, shikiichi)
• Korean: 역치(閾値) (yeokchi)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: terskelverdi (no) m

• Polish: próg (pl) m
• Portuguese: limiar (pt) m, umbral (pt) m
• Russian: поро́г (ru) m (poróg)
• Spanish: umbral (es) m
• Swedish: tröskelvärde (sv) n
• Tagalog: gilid
• Turkish: eşik (tr)
• Urdu: دہلیز f (dahlīz)
• Welsh: trothwy m

income at which income tax becomes due

• Bulgarian: праг (bg) m (prag)
• Danish: skattefri bundgrænse c (mostly historical, all salary income is taxable with at least 8% 'AM-bidrag')
• Finnish: alaraja
• French: seuil (fr) m
• Hebrew: סַף (he) m (saf), מַדְרֵגָה (he) f (madregá)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fribeløp n, frikortsgrense m or f

• Polish: próg (pl) m
• Russian: поро́г (ru) m (poróg)
• Spanish: límite (es) m
• Swedish: fribelopp n

outset of an action or project

• Arabic: بِدَايَة f (bidāya)
• Bulgarian: нача́ло (bg) n (načálo)
• Finnish: aloituspiste
• French: seuil (fr) m
• Greek: αφετηρία (el) f (afetiría)
• Russian: преддве́рие (ru) n (preddvérije), нача́ло (ru) n (načálo)

point where one mentally or physically is vulnerable in response to provocation or to particular things in general

• Finnish: kynnys (fi)
• French: seuil de tolérance m
• Greek: ουδός (el) m (oudós)
• Hebrew: סַף (he) m (saf)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tålegrense (no) m or f

• Tagalog: gilid

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian: ^{(please verify)} prag (sq) m
• Catalan: ^{(please verify)} llindar (ca) m
• French: ^{(please verify)} seuil (fr) m
• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} þröskuldur (is) m
• Irish: ^{(please verify)} tairseach f
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} soglia (it) f
• Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} slenkstis (lt) m
• Persian: ^{(please verify)} آستانه (fa)
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} prag (ro) f or m
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} umbral (es) m
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} ముఖద్వారం (te) (mukhadvāraṁ), ^{(please verify)} వాకిలి (te) (vākili)
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} eşik (tr)