Through

Through

Preposition, Adverb & Adjective · /θruː/ · from one end to the other; by means of; to the finish

Definition

Through means from one side or end to the other. It can describe movement — walk through a door, drive through a tunnel — or passage of time — work through the night. As an adverb it means all the way to the end: read the report through. As an adjective it means finished — are you through? It also means by means of: learned it through practice. Few words carry so much directional, temporal, and causal meaning in just seven letters.

Origin

From Old English þurh, from Proto-Germanic þurh, related to the Gothic þairh and Old High German durh. One of the oldest and most stable words in the English language, found in texts over a thousand years old. Its core meaning — penetrating from one side to the other — has never changed, though its applications have multiplied enormously across centuries of use.