thatch

Meanings

Noun

• Straw, rushes, or similar, used for making or covering the roofs of buildings, or of stacks of hay or grain.
• Any of several kinds of palm, the leaves of which are used for thatching.
• A buildup of cut grass, stolons or other material on the soil in a lawn.
• Any straw-like material, such as a person's hair.

Verb

• To cover the roof with straw, reed, leaves, etc.

Related

Similar words

• haulm

Origin

• Variant of thack, from Middle English thach, from Old English þæc ("roof-covering"), from Proto-West Germanic *þak, from Proto-Germanic *þaką ("covering"), from (o-grade of) Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- ("cover").
• Cognate with Icelandic þak, Dutch dak, German Dach, Norwegian tak, Swedish tak, Danish tag; and with Latin toga, Albanian thak ("awn, beard, pin, peg, tassel, fringe"), Lithuanian stogas ("roof"). Related to Ancient Greek τέγος ("roof") and στέγη. See also English deech, deck.
• From Middle English thacchen, from Old English þeċċan, þeċċean, from Proto-West Germanic *þakkjan, from Proto-Germanic *þakjaną, from Proto-Germanic *þaką (see above).
• Cognate with West Frisian dekke, Dutch dekken, German decken, Danish tække, Swedish täcka. Alteration of vowel after Middle English perhaps due to the above noun.