Wiktionary

the

See also: thé, thè, thę́, thế, thẻ, thể, the-, and þe

EnglishEdit

 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

PronunciationEdit

  • (when stressed)
    • enPR: thē, IPA(key): /ˈðiː/
    • Audio (US)(file)
    • Rhymes: -iː
      • (variant, preconsonantal) enPR: thŭ, IPA(key): /ˈðʌ/
  • (when unstressed and prevocalic)
  • (when unstressed and preconsonantal)
pronunciation notes

The word the is commonly pronounced /ðiː/ whenever it is pronounced as a distinct word, e.g.:

  • When it is used for emphasis (This is the hospital for open-heart surgery).
  • When the speaker pauses between the and the next word (the … sovereignty).
  • In many but not all dialects, when the next word begins with a vowel sound (the onion) (compare with a vs. an).

The word is generally pronounced indistinctly as /ðə/ or merely /ð/ in other situations, such as when attached to a word beginning with a consonant sound.

"the" vs. "ye"

The typographical pronunciation /jiː/ ("Ye Old...") is a deliberately archaic retronym from ye, which is a variant spelling of þe, from Old English þē pronounced thē, /θeː/, /ðeː/ (using y in place of the thorn (þ). It is not actually a separate pronunciation in Middle English. The actual morpheme /jiː/ in Middle English represents ȝe-, a variant spelling of the prefix y- attached to verbs and used to denote a verbal past participle.

Etymology 1Edit

From Middle English þe, from Old English þē m (“the, that”, demonstrative pronoun), a late variant of sē, the s- (which occurred in the masculine and feminine nominative singular only) having been replaced by the þ- from the oblique stem.

Originally neutral nominative, in Middle English it superseded all previous Old English nominative forms (sē m, sēo f, þæt n, þā pl); sē is from Proto-West Germanic *siz, from Proto-Germanic *sa, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *só.

Cognate with Saterland Frisian die (“the”), West Frisian de (“the”), Dutch de (“the”), German Low German de (“the”), German der (“the”), Danish de (“the”), Swedish de (“the”), Icelandic sá (“that”) within Germanic and with Sanskrit sá (“the, that”), Ancient Greek ὁ (ho, “the”), Tocharian B se (“this”) among other Indo-European languages[1].

ArticleEdit

the

  1. Definite grammatical article that implies necessarily that an entity it hints at is presupposed; something already mentioned, or completely specified later in that same sentence, or assumed already completely specified. [from 10th c.]
    I’m reading the book. (Compare I’m reading a book.)
    The street in front of your house. (Compare A street in Paris.)
    The men and women watched the man give the birdseed to the bird.
  2. Used before a noun modified by a restrictive relative clause, indicating that the noun refers to a single referent defined by the relative clause.
    The street that runs through my hometown.
  3. Used before an object considered to be unique, or of which there is only one at a time. [from 10th c.]
    No one knows how many galaxies there are in the universe.
    God save the Queen!
  4. Used before a superlative or an ordinal number modifying a noun, to indicate that the noun refers to a single item.
    That was the best apple pie ever.
  5. Added to a superlative or an ordinal number to make it into a substantive. [from 9th c.]
    That apple pie was the best.
  6. Introducing a singular term to be taken generically: preceding a name of something standing for a whole class. [from 9th c.]
  7. Used before an adjective, indicating all things (especially persons) described by that adjective. [from 9th c.]
    Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable.
  8. Used to indicate a certain example of (a noun) which is usually of most concern or most common or familiar. [from 12th c.]
    No one in the whole country had seen it before.
    I don't think I'll get to it until the morning.
  9. Used before a body part (especially of someone previously mentioned), as an alternative to a possessive pronoun. [from 12th c.]
    A stone hit him on the head. (= “A stone hit him on his head.”)
  10. When stressed, indicates that it describes an object which is considered to be best or exclusively worthy of attention. [from 18th c.]
    That is the hospital to go to for heart surgery.
    • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
      "Good Heavens, man! Why, he is the authority. If you want pure laboratory experiments those are the books."
    • 2012 May 27, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid On The Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club‎[1]:
      “New Kid On The Block” doubles as a terrific showcase for the Sea Captain who, in the grand tradition of Simpsons supporting characters, quickly goes from being a stereotype to an archetype, from being a crusty sea-captain character to the crusty sea-captain character.
Usage notesEdit
Usage notes (with proper nouns)

The word the precedes proper nouns in a number of cases, although most proper nouns use no article. There are always exceptions. See also Appendix:English proper nouns for more information.

Countries

As a general rule, country names are not preceded by the. There are a few exceptions, most of which are pluralised:

Names of countries containing specifications like kingdom, republic etc are used with the:

Place names

Some place names use a definite article:

  • All oceans (The Atlantic Ocean, The Pacific Ocean)
  • All seas (The Red Sea, The Bering Sea, The Caribbean Sea), and straits (The Strait of Magellan, the Bering Strait, The Bosphorus)
  • All rivers (The Amazon, The Nile, The Mississippi, The Seine, The Yangtze), canals (The Panama Canal, The Suez Canal) and deltas (The Nile Delta, The Orinoco Delta, The Colorado River Delta)
  • All art galleries (The Tate, The Louvre, The Smithsonian American Art Museum), all museums with the word museum in the name (The Museum of Natural History, The British Museum)
  • Most English-language newspapers (The New York Times, The Guardian, The Chronicle, The Wall Street Journal)
  • All North American railroads, even when not referred to by their full names or only by nicknames (The Pennsylvania Railroad, The Reading (Reading Railroad), The Frisco (St. Louis–San Francisco Railway))
  • Some towns (the Bronx, The Hague, The Valley, The Farrington, The Quarter, The Plains, The Dalles, The Villages, The Woodlands, The Pas, the Vatican, The Hyde, the West End, the East End, or the City of ...)
Bands

Musical bands with a plural name are generally used with the:

Universities

University names beginning with the word "University", and some other university names, are used with the:

  • The University of North Carolina
  • The Ohio State University
Usage notes (with adjectives)

When used before an adjective which is not followed by a noun, it may refer to a group of people for which the adjective is appropriate:

  • the Scottish = Scots
  • the rich = rich people (considered as a group)
Alternative formsEdit
  • da (d'), teh (informal or dialectal)
  • de (eye dialect, AAVE)
  • t' (Northern England)
  • th' (poetic)
  • ye (archaic), ye (archaic, abbreviation), yͤ (archaic, abbreviation)
  • ẏe (obsolete), ẏe (obsolete, abbreviation)
SynonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
terms derived from the (determiner)
TranslationsEdit
article
used as an alternative to a possessive pronoun before body parts
ReferencesEdit
  1. ^ Dunkel, George E. (2014) Lexikon der indogermanischen Partikeln und Pronominalstämme [Lexicon of Indo-European Particles and Pronominal Stems] (Indogermanische Bibliothek. 2. Reihe: Wörterbücher) (in German), Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter GmbH Heidelberg, →ISBN, pages 732-733

Etymology 2Edit

From Middle English the, thy, thi, from Old English þē̆, probably a neuter instrumental form ("by that, thereby")—alongside the more common þȳ and þon—of the demonstrative pronoun sē ("that"). Compare Dutch des te ("the, the more"), German desto ("the, all the more"), Norwegian fordi ("because"), Icelandic því (“the; because”), Faroese tí, Swedish ty.

AdverbEdit

the (not comparable)

  1. With a comparative or with more and a verb phrase, establishes a correlation with one or more other such comparatives.
    The hotter(,) the better. (comma usually omitted in such very short expressions)
    The more I think about it, the weaker it looks.
    The more money donated, the more books purchased, and the more happy children.
    It looks weaker and weaker, the more I think about it.
  2. With a comparative, and often with for it, indicates a result more like said comparative. This can be negated with none.
    It was a difficult time, but I’m the wiser for it.
    It was a difficult time, and I’m {none - not any} the wiser for it.
    I'm much the wiser for having had a difficult time like that.
Usage notesEdit

This is called the "comparative correlative", but it is also known as the "correlative construction", the "conditional comparative", or the "the...the construction".

Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 3Edit

PrepositionEdit

the

  1. For each; per.
    valued at half a pound the bushel; paying seven dollars the year interest
    • 1837, James Edward Alexander, Narrative of a Voyage of Observation Among the Colonies of Western Africa, in the Flag-ship Thalia; and of a Campaign in Kaffir-land, on the Staff of the Commander-in-Chief, in 1835, volume 1, London: Henry Colburn, pages 251–2:
      Next morning I was up at an early hour, to see the market held near the water gate. The beef was excellent: but at the high prices of ten-pence and one shilling the pound; mutton at the same price; fowls a dollar the couple, and showing “more feathers than flesh.”
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:the.

See alsoEdit

See also

AnagramsEdit

Crimean GothicEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Proto-Germanic *sa.

ArticleEdit

the

  1. the
    • 1562, Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq:
      omnibus vero dictionibus praeponebat articulum tho aut the
      [he/she] placed the article tho or the before every word

Usage notesEdit

While it is likely that Crimean Gothic retained grammatical gender, de Busbecq's letter does not mention which articles are used with which words, making it impossible to reconstruct their gender.

DanishEdit

NounEdit

the c

  1. Alternative spelling of te (“tea”)
    • 2016, Thorkild Hansen, Genklang: Rejser og portrætter 1959-89, Gyldendal A/S, →ISBN:
      Vi vågnede ved 6tiden og lavede dejlig the.
      We got up at about 6 AM and made lovely tea.
    • 2015, Lotte Heise; Tina Bryld, Selvfølgelig skal hun bo hos mig: om at bo med sin handicappede mor, Gyldendal A/S, →ISBN:
      Hun smiler over hele femøren, da duften af te breder sig: ”Uha, dejlig the.”
      She smiles broadly, as the scent of tea spreads: ”Oh, lovely tea.”

DeclensionEdit

Declension of the
common
gender 		Singular
indefinite definite
nominative the theen
genitive thes theens

Eastern ArrernteEdit

PronounEdit

the

  1. I (first person singular pronoun)

ReferencesEdit

HadzaEdit

PronunciationEdit

PronounEdit

the m (fem. theko)

  1. you (thou)

Related termsEdit

InterlinguaEdit

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

the (plural thes)

  1. tea

IrishEdit

PronunciationEdit

AdjectiveEdit

the

  1. Lenited form of te.

ItalianEdit

NounEdit

the

  1. Misspelling of tè.

Middle EnglishEdit

Etymology 1Edit

ArticleEdit

the

  1. Alternative form of þe (“the”)

Etymology 2Edit

PronounEdit

the

  1. Alternative form of þe (“thee”)

Etymology 3Edit

PronounEdit

the

  1. Alternative form of þei (“they”)

Etymology 4Edit

VerbEdit

the

  1. Alternative form of theen

Murrinh-PathaEdit

NounEdit

the

  1. ear

See alsoEdit

  • ye (incorporated noun)

ReferencesEdit

  • 2003, Mark Abley, Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages.

Old High GermanEdit

Alternative formsEdit

ParticleEdit

the (indeclinable, relative)

  1. that, who, which

ReferencesEdit

  1. Braune, Wilhelm. Althochdeutsches Lesebuch, zusammengestellt und mit Glossar versehen

Old SaxonEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Proto-Germanic *sa. The original s- was replaced by th- by analogy with the other forms, but still preserved in the variant sē.

DeterminerEdit

thē

  1. that, that one
    them uuīha uuīsa lēstean: To obey that holy wise.
DeclensionEdit
Declension of thē
Singular Plural
Masculine Neuter Feminine
nominative the that thiu thia
accusative thana that thia thia
genitive thes thes thera thero
dative themu themu theru them
instrumental thiu -
DescendantsEdit
  • Middle Low German: de
    • Low German: de

Etymology 2Edit

From Proto-Germanic *þa, from Proto-Indo-European *tó, *te-.

ParticleEdit

the (indeclinable, relative)

  1. that, who, which

PhaluraEdit

EtymologyEdit

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

PronunciationEdit

PostpositionEdit

the (تھےۡ)

  1. to
  2. for
  3. at

ReferencesEdit

  • Liljegren, Henrik; Haider, Naseem (2011) Palula Vocabulary (FLI Language and Culture Series; 7)‎[2], Islamabad, Pakistan: Forum for Language Initiatives, →ISBN

ScotsEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Old English se.

DeterminerEdit

the

  1. the

Serbo-CroatianEdit

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from English the, which sounds similar to Serbo-Croatian da.

ConjunctionEdit

the (no known Cyrillic variant)

  1. (Internet slang) Alternative spelling of da
    neki kreten the ih drka emotivno
    some jerk to fuck with them emotionally
    the ovo okačim na fb wall, garant ne bih opstala od borKINJa za ženska prava
    if I posted this on my FB wall, I surely wouldn't survive the women rights fighters

South SlaveyEdit

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

the

  1. belt

DeclensionEdit

Possessive inflection of the (alienable; stem: -dheé)
singular plural
1st person sedheé naxedheé
2nd person nedheé
3rd person1) medheé gidheé
3rd person2) godheé
4th person yedheé
reflexive ɂededheé,
dedheé 		kededheé
reciprocal — ɂełedheé
indefinite ɂedheé
areal godheé
1) Used for a possessed object when the subject is third person human plural and object is singular.
2) Used when the previous condition doesn't apply.

ReferencesEdit

  • Keren Rice (1989) A Grammar of Slave, Berlin, West Germany: Mouton de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 38

SwedishEdit

NounEdit

the n

  1. Alternative spelling of te (tea)

DeclensionEdit

Declension of the 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative the theet theer theerna
Genitive thes theets theers theernas

AnagramsEdit

VietnameseEdit

PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 紗 (SV: sa).

NounEdit

the

  1. a kind of silk gauze
Derived termsEdit
Derived terms

Etymology 2Edit

AdjectiveEdit

the • (𦂛, 𫄋) (phonemic reduplicative the the)

  1. having a strong and fragrant smell

WelshEdit

NounEdit

the

  1. Aspirate mutation of te.

MutationEdit

Welsh mutation
radical soft nasal aspirate
te de nhe the
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

YolaEdit

ArticleEdit

the

  1. Alternative form of a (“the”)
    • 1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 12:
      Th' ball want a cowlee, the gazb maate all rize;
      The ball o'er shot the goal, the dust rose all about;

ReferencesEdit

  • Jacob Poole (1867), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, page 88
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=the&oldid=71692483"