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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

tharf.

Stiff, unsocial, rough in manner.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈθɑː(ɹ)f/Received-Pronunciation
  1. Stiff, unsocial, rough in manner.

    UK · obsolete · regional
    a tharf person
Where this word comes from

From Middle English therf, from Old English þeorf (“unleavened, fresh, skim”), from Proto-West Germanic *þerb, from Proto-Germanic *þerbaz (“unleavened, simple”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)terbh-, *(s)trebh- (“rigid, stiff, tight”). Cognate with German derb (“rough, coarse, rude”), Old Frisian therve, Middle Dutch derf.

verb
  1. to need

    UK · obsolete · regional
Where this word comes from

From English tharf, conjugated form of tharen, from Proto-West Germanic *þurban, from Proto-Indo-European *terp- (“to satisfy”). Cognate with German dürfen (“may, to be allowed to; must”) and Ancient Greek τέρπω (térpō, “to delight”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.