thane
Americannoun
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Early English History. a member of any of several aristocratic classes of men ranking between earls and ordinary freemen, and granted lands by the king or by lords for military service.
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Scottish History. a person, ranking with an earl's son, holding lands of the king; the chief of a clan, who became one of the king's barons.
noun
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(in Anglo-Saxon England) a member of an aristocratic class, ranking below an ealdorman, whose status was hereditary and who held land from the king or from another nobleman in return for certain services
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a person of rank, often the chief of a clan, holding land from the king
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a lesser noble who was a Crown official holding authority over an area of land
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Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of thane
before 900; late Middle English, spelling variant ( Scots ) of Middle English thain, thein, Old English thegn; cognate with Old Norse thegn subject, German Degen warrior, hero, Greek téknon child
Explanation
The noun thane is good for describing a man who owned land back in feudal times. Maybe your distant ancestor was a thane who served an Anglo-Saxon king. In Anglo-Saxon England, there was a hierarchy with the king at the very top: a thane was fairly high in this ranking, not quite a nobleman but more powerful than an ordinary citizen. You don't come across the word very often these days unless you're reading Shakespeare. Macbeth is perhaps the most famous thane in literature, in fact, and the play's popularity may have influenced the current spelling of thane, which was originally spelled thegn.
Vocabulary lists containing thane
The Tragedy of Macbeth
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Beowulf
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"The Tragedy of Macbeth," Vocabulary from Act 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In India too, Pune and Thane cities in Maharashtra state - of which Mumbai is the capital - have imposed penalties on feeding pigeons.
From BBC • Aug. 17, 2025
Prosecutor Thane Rehn said FTX's commercials promoted the exchange as trustworthy - even while Bankman-Fried was allegedly stealing deposits.
From Reuters • Oct. 4, 2023
Attorney Thane Rehn thundered, pointing directly at SBF.
From Slate • Oct. 4, 2023
Television footage showed the collapsed crane on the ground as rescue workers looked for survivors near the site in Thane, a city just outside Mumbai.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 31, 2023
Yit, not long efter, it hapnit that the Thane of Cawder was disinherist and forfaltit of his landis for certane crimes; and his landis wer gevin be King Duncane to Makbeth.
From A Short History of England, Ireland and Scotland by Parmele, Mary Platt
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
