Thinketh

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. An archaic form of the verb think, used with he, she or it to mean believes or considers something in one's mind
2. The old-fashioned third-person singular present form of think, meaning to hold an opinion or reason about something
3. A dated verb form equivalent to thinks, used in older English to describe someone who is considering or believing a matter

Etymology: "Thinketh" is simply the archaic third-person singular of "think", the form that stood where modern English now says "thinks". The verb itself traces back through Middle English "thinken" to Old English "þenċan", and beyond that to a Proto-Germanic root shared with German "denken", Dutch "denken" and Swedish "tänka", all meaning "to think". The surprise lies in a second, separate verb. Old English "þyncan" meant "to seem, appear", and it is the source of the sense in phrases like "methinks", meaning "it seems to me". Over the Middle English period the two verbs drifted together in spelling and sense, so that words once meaning "seem" and "reason" became entangled. German keeps them apart: "denken" means think, while "dünken" means seem. Few readers would guess that the modern word for mental reflection once shared a root with a verb meaning merely to appear to be so.

Synonyms: thinks, ponders, considers, believes, reasons