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, (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.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈθɹeʃəʊld/, /ˈθɹɛʃˌhəʊld/, (goat split) [ˈθɹɛʃˌhɒʊɫd]
• (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.

   Synonym: doorsill

   Near-synonym: doorstep

   Coordinate term: windowsill

2. (by extension) An entrance; the door or gate of a house.

   Synonyms: doorway, portal

   • 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.

   on the threshold of maturity

   • 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

• bithreshold
• infrathreshold
• perithreshold
• photothreshold
• stereothreshold
• subthreshold
• superthreshold
• suprathreshold
• thresholded
• thresholder
• thresholding
• thresholdless
• thresholdlike
• underthreshold

multiword expressions

• absolute threshold
• bithreshold
• cycle threshold
• Darwinian threshold
• displaced threshold
• election threshold
• epidemic threshold
• infrathreshold
• Micawber threshold
• pain threshold
• perithreshold
• photothreshold
• stereothreshold
• subthreshold
• superthreshold
• suprathreshold
• threshold braking
• thresholded
• threshold effect
• thresholder
• threshold of originality
• threshold potential
• threshold worker
• underthreshold

Translations

bottom-most part of a doorway — see also doorstep

• Albanian: shqem (sq) m, shkam m, prag (sq) m
• Altai:

  Southern Altai: бозого (bozogo)

• Arabic: عَتَبَة f (ʕataba)
• Armenian: շեմք (hy) (šemkʻ), սեմ (hy) (sem)
• Azerbaijani: astana (az), kandar (az)
• Bashkir: тупһа (topha), буҫаға (bośağa)
• 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 (pus̬ax̬a), алӑк янаххи (alăk̬ janaxxi)
• Crimean Tatar: bosağa
• Czech: práh (cs) m
• Danish: tærskel (da) c, dørtærskel c
• Dutch: drempel (nl)
• Erzya: кенкшикелькс (kenkšikeľks)
• 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 Greek: 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 (tabaldırıq), 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)
• Māori: 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)
• Pashto: آستانه (ps) f (āstāna), درګا f (dargā)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: آسْتان (fa) (âstân), دَرْگاه (fa) (dargâh), آسْتانِه (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

  Latin: prȁg (sh) m

• Shor: позаа, позаға
• Sicilian: antu (scn) m, sogghia f
• Slovak: prah m
• Slovene: prag (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: prog m

  Upper Sorbian: рrоh m

• Spanish: umbral (es) m, limen (es) m, tranco (es) m, tranquillo (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)

  Ottoman Turkish: اشیك (eşik)

• Turkmen: bosaga (tk)
• Tuvan: бозага (bozaga), казапча (kazapça), эргин (ergin)
• Ukrainian: порі́г m (poríh)
• Urdu: ڈیوڑی f (ḍeoṛī), ڈیوڑھی f (ḍeoṛhī), آسْتانَہ (ur) m (āstāna), دَرْگاہ f (dargāh)
• 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
• West Flemish: zulle f
• Yiddish: שוועל (shvel)

entrance — see also entrance,‎ portal

• Bulgarian: преддве́рие (bg) n (preddvérie)
• Catalan: llindar (ca) m
• Danish: tærskel (da) c
• Esperanto: sojlo, enirejo
• Finnish: kynnys (fi)
• Galician: limiar (gl) m
• German: Türschwelle (de) f, Schwelle (de) f
• 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

• Polish: próg (pl) m, przedsionek (pl) m
• Portuguese: patamar (pt) m, patamares pl
• Spanish: umbral (es) m
• Turkish:

  Ottoman Turkish: اشیك (eşik)

start of the landing area

• Catalan: capçalera (ca) f
• Finnish: kynnys (fi)
• German: Landeschwelle f
• 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 — see also limit

• 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)
• Swedish: fribelopp n

outset of an action or project

• Arabic: بِدَايَة f (bidāya)
• Bulgarian: нача́ло (bg) n (načálo)
• Catalan: punt de partida m
• Finnish: aloituspiste
• French: seuil (fr) m
• German: Ausgangspunkt (de) m, Beginn (de) m, Anfang (de) 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

• Catalan: límit (ca) m, llindar de tolerància m
• 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
• 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
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} ముఖద్వారం (te) (mukhadvāraṁ), ^{(please verify)} వాకిలి (te) (vākili)
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} eşik (tr)