stream

B1 Topic:Nature & Landscape

US /stɹiːm/ See IPA manual

Freq #5086

Meanings

1

noun
A small, narrow river.

The children played in the clear mountain stream.
2

noun
A steady flow of liquid, people, or things moving in one direction.

A stream of people poured out of the station at rush hour.
3

verb
To flow steadily and in large amounts.

Tears streamed down her face as she read the letter.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a small, narrow river. brook creek

2 noun · a steady flow of liquid,... current flow

Word family

Forms streamedstreamingstreams

Derived forms airstreamastreambackstreambestreambitstreambloodstreamclickstreamcodestreamcostreamcounterstreamdestreamdistream

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

stream a movie
to watch a movie via an online streaming service

Verb + noun

Proverbs (1)

See all

Don't change horses in midstream
Matching variant: Don't change horses in the middle of a stream

Etymology

From Middle English streem, strem, from Old English strēam, from Proto-West Germanic *straum, from Proto-Germanic *straumaz (“stream”), from Proto-Indo-European *srowmos (“river”), from Proto-Indo-European *srew- (“to flow”). Doublet of rheum. Cognate with Scots strem, streme, streym (“stream, river”), North Frisian Stroom, struum (“stream”), West Frisian stream (“stream”), Low German Stroom (“stream”), Dutch stroom (“current, flow, stream”), German Strom (“current, stream”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål strøm (“current, stream, flow”), Norwegian Nynorsk straum (“current, stream, flow”), Swedis…

*srew- Proto-Indo-European streem Middle English strēam Old English *straum Proto-West Germanic *straumaz Proto-Germanic *srowmos Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Nature & Landscape

External links

# stream

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /stɹiːm/
**Frequency rank:** 5086

## Meanings
1. A small, narrow river.
2. A steady flow of liquid, people, or things moving in one direction.
3. To flow steadily and in large amounts.

## Examples
- The children played in the clear mountain stream.
- A stream of people poured out of the station at rush hour.
- Tears streamed down her face as she read the letter.

## Derived Forms
- airstream
- astream
- backstream
- bestream
- bitstream
- bloodstream
- clickstream
- codestream
- costream
- counterstream
- destream
- distream

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *srew-
- Root: streem
- Root: strēam
- Root: *straum
- Root: *straumaz
- Root: *srowmos

## Etymology
From Middle English streem, strem, from Old English strēam, from Proto-West Germanic *straum, from Proto-Germanic *straumaz (“stream”), from Proto-Indo-European *srowmos (“river”), from Proto-Indo-European *srew- (“to flow”). Doublet of rheum. Cognate with Scots strem, streme, streym (“stream, river”), North Frisian Stroom, struum (“stream”), West Frisian stream (“stream”), Low German Stroom (“stream”), Dutch stroom (“current, flow, stream”), German Strom (“current, stream”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål strøm (“current, stream, flow”), Norwegian Nynorsk straum (“current, stream, flow”), Swedis…

## AI Etymology
Stream is from Middle English streem, strem, from Old English strēam, from Proto-West Germanic *straum, from Proto-Germanic *straumaz (“stream”), from Proto-Indo-European *srowmos (“river”), from Proto-Indo-European *srew- (“to flow”). Doublet of rheum. In present-day use, it can mean a small, narrow river, or a steady flow of liquid, people, or things moving in one direction.

## Topics
- Nature & Landscape

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