Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Thales |
ThalesNoun1. Greek philosopher and astronomer (who predicted an eclipse in 585 BC) who was said by Aristotle to be the founder of physical science; he held that all things originated in water (624-546 BC). Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
"Thales" is a name that signifies or is derived from: "blossom". |
Date "Thales" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references) |
"Thales" is a common misspelling or typo for: tales, whales. |
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
THALES | English | THomson, RacAl, SignaaL Electronic Systems | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Thales of Miletus (circa 635 BC - 543 BC) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher.
He is generally considered the first philosopher in the Greek tradition and is considered the father of science as well. He is numbered among the Seven Sages of Greece.
Thales is remembered for arguing that water is the essence of all things. This argument is significant because it is the first attempt to explain the physical world without reference to a supernatural power. Prior to Thales all such explanations relied on gods or other mythological forces.
Thales lived in the city of Miletus, in Ionia. The Ionians were well-traveled and had many dealings with Egypt and Babylon, and it is possible that Thales had studied in Egypt as a young man. In any event, Thales was almost certainly exposed to Egyptian mythology, astronomy, and mathematics, as well as other traditions alien to the Homeric traditions of Greece. It is perhaps because of this that his inquiries into the nature of things took him beyond traditional mythology.
Thales had a profound influence on other Greek thinkers and therefore on Western history. Anaximander is sometimes considered to be a pupil of Thales. And it is reported by early sources that one of Anaximander's more famous pupils, Pythagoras, visited Thales as a young man, and was advised to travel to Egypt to further his philosophical and mathematical studies. Many philosophers followed his lead in searching for explanations in nature rather than in the supernatural; others returned to supernatural explanations, but couched in the language of philosophy, rather than myth or religion.
Herodotus reports that in 585 BC Thales was with the Lydians when they fought the Medes, and was able to forecast that a solar eclipse would occur on May 28 which ended the war (see Alyattes II).
A famous, though contradictory, anecdote of his life involves a business decision. He is said to have been able to predict the weather, and bought all of the olive presses in Miletus when he knew there would be a good harvest. Another version states that Thales bought the presses because the Milesians wondered why he didn't use his intelligence to make himself wealthy. Other versions say he bought the wine presses, rather than the olive presses.
Thales Group has been the name of the French electronics and defence contractor Thomson-CSF (Compagnie de telegraphie Sans Fil) since 2000.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Thales."
Synonym: ThalesSynonym: Thales of Miletus (n). (additional references) |
| Synonym by domain: THomson, RacAl, SignaaL Electronic Systems (industry). |
Crosswords: Thales |
| English words defined with "Thales": Ionic sect ♦ Thales of Miletus. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "Thales": Seven Sages of Greece. (references) |
| Domain | Title |
References | |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Diogenes Laertius | When asked why he did not become a father, Thales answered, "Because I am fond of children." |
Thales of Miletus | Nothing is more active than thought, for it travels over the universe, and nothing is stronger than necessity for all must submit to it. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | Thales remained motionless for four years. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | France | However, the Government still has large stakes in Air France (57.0%), France Telecom (54.0%), Renault (44.2%), Thomson Multimedia (37.0%) and Thales (formerly Thomson CSF - 33.3%). The Government has also stakes in Bull, EADS and Dassault Systemes. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Thales" is generally used as a noun (proper) -- approximately 58.14% of the time. "Thales" is used about 43 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (proper) | 58.14% | 25 | 69,787 |
| Noun (plural) | 41.86% | 18 | 82,615 |
| Total | 100.00% | 43 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Country | Name |
| France | Thales SA |
| (more examples...) |
Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.
Expression using "Thales": Thales of Miletus. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "Thales"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||
Greek | Θαλήσ. (various references) | ||||
Pig Latin | alesthay | ||||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: halest, haslet, lathes, shelta. | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-h-l-s-t" | |
-1 letter: haets, hales, halts, haste, hates, heals, heats, lathe, laths, leash, least, selah, setal, shale, shalt, sheal, slate, stale, steal, stela, taels, tales, teals, tesla. | |
-2 letters: ales, alts, ates, east, eath, eats, etas, eths, haes, haet, hale, halt, hast, hate, hats, heal, heat, hest, hets, lase, lash, last, late, lath, lats, leas, lest, lets, sale, salt, sate, seal, seat, seta, shat, shea, slat, tael, tale, teal, teas, tela, tels, thae. | |
-3 letters: ale, als, alt, ash, ate, eat, els, eta, eth, hae, has, hat, hes, het, las, lat, lea, let, sae, sal, sat, sea, sel, set, sha, she, tae, tas, tea, tel, the. | |
-4 letters: ae, ah, al, as, at, eh, el, es, et, ha, he, la, sh, ta. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-h-l-s-t" | |
+1 letter: altheas, chalets, daleths, halites, halters, hamlets, hantles, harslet, haslets, hatless, healths, heliast, latches, lathers, lethals, loathes, satchel, sheltas, slather, stealth, thalers, wealths. | |
+2 letters: alcahest, alkahest, althaeas, anethols, athletes, bathless, blathers, chaplets, chastely, chattels, chelates, cholates, enthrals, eschalot, ethanols, ethicals, halberts, halteres, haltless, haplites, harslets, hasteful, hatchels, heatless, heeltaps, heliasts, hellcats, hyalites, klatches, latchets, lathiest, leathers, loathers, nathless, pathless, ratholes, satchels, shaliest, shetland, shoalest, slatches, slathers, stealths, stealthy, sulphate, tapholes, thawless, thermals, trachles, trehalas. | |
+3 letters: aeroliths, alcahests, alchemist, alkahests, alphabets, anetholes, apholates, asphalted, athelings, athletics, boltheads, catechols, chalkiest, chelators, chevalets, chlorates, deathless, elephants, enthralls, eschalots, establish, ethylates, exhalants, exhalents, faithless, fishplate, flashiest, flashtube, flatheads, ghastlier, giltheads, hackliest, hailstone, hairstyle, halftimes, halftones, halitoses, halituses, haulmiest, haustella, hazelnuts, headstall, heartless, heathless, heliostat, helotages, helpmates, herbalist, horsetail, isohyetal, klatsches, latchkeys, latherers, laughters, lavishest, leachates, leachiest, litharges, lithemias, lithiases, loathness, loathsome, matchless, megaliths, methanols, methylals, methylase, natheless, pamphlets, planchets, plashiest, plethoras, potlaches, safelight, shavetail, shetlands, shiftable, shmaltzes, shoaliest, shtetlach, slathered, slaughter, steelhead, sublethal, sulphated, sulphates, tallithes, telepaths, telophase, thalluses, thankless, thesaural, thiazoles, thirlages, toolheads, trauchles, trehalose, trochleas, unlatches. | |
+4 letters: alchemists, alkahestic, allethrins, anthelices, anthelions, anthelixes, asphaltite, battleship, betrothals, biathletes, blatherers, branchlets, breathless, caliphates, cartwheels, catchflies, catchpoles, cathedrals, charlottes, chatelains, chelations, chocolates, clathrates, deadlights, deathblows, decathlons, disenthral, earthliest, earthlings, eightballs, enthalpies, facecloths, fatherless, fathomless, fishplates, fishtailed, flashtubes, flatfishes, flatwashes, ghastliest, hailstones, hairstyles, halogetons, halophytes, halothanes, haplotypes, harlotries, haustellum, headlights, headstalls, healthiest, heartlands, heathlands, heliostats, herbalists, hesitantly, hilarities, horsetails, hospitable, houseplant, humiliates, hysterical, isothermal, larghettos, legateship, lengthways, lethargies, leviathans, lightfaces, lunchmeats, malachites, mesothelia, metalsmith, methylases, methylates, multiphase, orchestral, orthoclase, phenolates, potlatches, safelights, saltbushes, saltshaker, satchelful, scatheless, schmaltzes, schoolmate, semilethal, shallowest, shapeliest, shavetails, sheathbill, shmaltzier, shrievalty, slathering, slaughters, spathulate, sphalerite, splashiest, stablished, stablishes, stealthier, stealthily, steelheads, switchable, tabboulehs, technicals, telegraphs, telophases, theistical, thimerosal, threadless, thylacines, tracheoles, trailheads, trehaloses, trihedrals, trochlears, ultraheats, unchastely, watchables, wealthiest, whaleboats, whitetails, whitewalls. | |
+5 letters: abolishment, aesthetical, ailanthuses, alchemistic, alightments, altogethers, analphabets, annihilates, antechapels, anthologies, apostleship, asphaltites, atheistical, athleticism, battleships, bequeathals, birthplaces, blackhearts, calisthenic, catechismal, chalcocites, chalybeates, chatelaines, chiralities, chlorinates, cholestases, cholestasis, cholestatic, coelacanths, deathlessly, decathletes, disenthrall, disenthrals, earthlights, earthliness, erythrismal, eschatology, escheatable, established, establisher, establishes, ethambutols, ethicalness, exhalations, exhaustible, exhaustless, exhilarates, faithlessly, fatherlands, featherless, feldspathic, flycatchers, ghastliness, grapholects, habiliments, habilitates, halogenates, harvestable, hatefulness, healthiness, heartlessly, heartsomely, heavenliest, hemiacetals, heptachlors, heulandites, hinterlands, homologates, hospitalise, hospitalize, houseplants, hydrolysate, lanthanides, largemouths, lecithinase, legateships, lethalities, letterheads, lighterages, lightplanes, lithophanes, loathnesses, loathsomely, mantelshelf, matchlessly, mesothelial, metalsmiths, methylators, methyldopas, motherlands, nonathletes, orthoclases, patchoulies, pathologies, pentathlons, phalanstery, philatelies, philatelist, phyllotaxes, planchettes, platyfishes, polychaetes, polymathies, rathskeller, reestablish, saddlecloth, saltshakers, satchelfuls, satchelsful, schmaltzier, schmalziest, schoolmates, searchlight, semilethals, sheathbills, shinplaster, shmaltziest, slaughtered, slaughterer, spaceflight, sphalerites, spheroplast, spirochetal, stadtholder, stakeholder, stallholder, stealthiest, stenohaline, stickhandle, stretchable, sublethally, switchblade, tablecloths, tarnishable, telepathies, tetherballs, thalassemia, thalassemic, thanklessly, theatricals, theologians, thermalizes, thimerosals, thiopentals, thiosulfate, triathletes, turtleheads, ultrafiches, waterwheels, wavelengths, wealthiness, whistleable. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)54 68 61 6C 65 73 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)- .... .- .-.. . ... |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010100 01101000 01100001 01101100 01100101 01110011 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)T h a l e s |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0054 0068 0061 006C 0065 0073 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)547467787185 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Quotations: Familiar 6. Quotations: Fiction 7. Quotations: Non-fiction 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Names: Company Usage 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Abbreviations 14. Acronyms 15. Anagrams 16. Orthography | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
