strain

B1 Topic:Cooking & Baking

US /stɹeɪn/ See IPA manual

Freq #6598

Meanings

1

noun
Pressure or worry caused by a difficult situation.

The long hours at work put a great strain on her health.
2

verb
To make a great effort, often pushing your body or mind hard.

We strained our ears to hear the faint music in the distance.
3

verb
To injure a muscle by stretching or using it too much.

He strained his back lifting the heavy boxes.
4

noun
A particular type of a virus, bacteria, or other organism.

Scientists are studying a new strain of the flu virus.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · pressure or worry caused by... stressmental strainnervous strain

2 verb · to make a great effort,... reach

4 noun · a particular type of a... variant

Word family

Forms strainerstrainingstrains

Derived forms eyestraingnat-strainmultistrainstrainer

Related forms stress strew strict stringent

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

strain one's voice
put excessive stress on the vocal cords

Verb + noun

Etymology

From Middle English streen, strene, streon, istreon (“race, stock, generation”), from Old English strēon, ġestrēon (“gain, wealth”), from Proto-Germanic *streuną (“heap, treasure, profit, gain”), from Proto-Indo-European *strew- (“to spread, strew”) (cognate with Old Saxon gistriuni, Old High German gistriuni (“gain, property, wealth, business”), Latin strues (“heap”)). Confused in Middle English with the related noun strend, strynd, strund, from Old English strȳnd (“race; stock”), from strēonan, strȳnan (“to beget; acquire”). Related also to Dutch struinen (“to prowl, root about, rout”).

*strew- Proto-Indo-European streen Middle English strēon Old English *streuną Proto-Germanic strȳnd Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Cooking & Baking General Vocabulary

External links

# strain

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /stɹeɪn/
**Frequency rank:** 6598

## Meanings
1. Pressure or worry caused by a difficult situation.
2. To make a great effort, often pushing your body or mind hard.
3. To injure a muscle by stretching or using it too much.
4. A particular type of a virus, bacteria, or other organism.

## Examples
- The long hours at work put a great strain on her health.
- We strained our ears to hear the faint music in the distance.
- He strained his back lifting the heavy boxes.
- Scientists are studying a new strain of the flu virus.

## Derived Forms
- eyestrain
- gnat-strain
- multistrain
- strainer

## Related Forms
- stress
- strew
- strict
- stringent

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *strew-
- Root: streen
- Root: strēon
- Root: *streuną
- Root: strȳnd

## Etymology
From Middle English streen, strene, streon, istreon (“race, stock, generation”), from Old English strēon, ġestrēon (“gain, wealth”), from Proto-Germanic *streuną (“heap, treasure, profit, gain”), from Proto-Indo-European *strew- (“to spread, strew”) (cognate with Old Saxon gistriuni, Old High German gistriuni (“gain, property, wealth, business”), Latin strues (“heap”)). Confused in Middle English with the related noun strend, strynd, strund, from Old English strȳnd (“race; stock”), from strēonan, strȳnan (“to beget; acquire”). Related also to Dutch struinen (“to prowl, root about, rout”).

## AI Etymology
Strain is from Middle English streen, strene, streon, istreon (“race, stock, generation”), from Old English strēon, ġestrēon (“gain, wealth”), from Proto-Germanic *streuną (“heap, treasure, profit, gain”), from Proto-Indo-European *strew- (“to spread, strew”) (cognate with Old Saxon gistriuni, Old High German gistriuni (“gain, property, wealth, business”), Latin strues (“heap”)). Confused in Middle English with the related noun strend, strynd, strund, from Old English strȳnd (“race; stock”), from strēonan, strȳnan (“to beget; acquire”). Related also to Dutch struinen (“to prowl, root about, rout”).

## Topics
- Cooking & Baking
- General Vocabulary

markdown