thee

See also: Thee, thée, and the'e

Contents

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English thee, the, from Middle English þē (“thee”, originally dative, but later also accusative), from Proto-Germanic *þiz (“thee”), from Proto-Indo-European *te (“second-person singular pronoun”). Cognate with German Low German di (“thee”), German dir (“thee”, dative pron.), Icelandic þér (“thee”). More at thou.

Pronunciation

• enPR: thē, IPA^(key): /ðiː/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iː
• Homophone: the (when stressed)

Pronoun

thee (second-person singular, objective case, nominative thou, reflexive thyself)

1. (archaic, literary) Objective case of thou.
   • 1598, Shakespeare, Henry IV part 1, 1.2.49-50:

     Prince Henry: Did I ever call for thee to pay thy part?

     Falstaff: No; I'll give thee thy due, thou hast paid all there.

   • 1742, Charles Wesley (music), “Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown”:

     Come, O thou Traveller unknown, / Whom still I hold, but cannot see! / My company before is gone, / And I am left alone with Thee; / With Thee all night I mean to stay, / And wrestle till the break of day.

2. (Quaker, Amish, Pennsylvania Dutch English, West Country) Thou.

   Thee is a little strange, I think.

Usage notes

When used in place of the nominative thou, thee uses the third-person singular form of verbs (see example above).

Derived terms

• get thee behind me

Translations

Objective case of 'thou'

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 你 (zh), 汝 (zh), 尔 (zh)

• Czech: tě (cs), tebe (cs), ti (cs), tobě, tebou
• French: (informal and addressing one person; used after a preposition) toi (fr), (informal and addressing one person; used before a verb) te (fr)
• German: dich (de), dir (de)
• Hungarian: téged (hu)
• Irish: thú
• Italian: (informal and addressing one person; used after a preposition) te (it), (informal and addressing one person; used before a verb) ti (it)

• Norwegian: deg (no)
• Polish: cię
• Portuguese: tu (pt), ti (pt)
• Russian: тебя́ (ru) (tebjá) (genitive, accusative), тебе́ (ru) (tebé) (dative, prepositional), тобо́й (ru) (tobój) (instrumental)
• Slovak: ťa, teba, ti, tebe, tebou
• Spanish: te (es), ti (es)
• Swedish: dig (sv)
• Ukrainian: тебе́ (tebé), тобі́ (tobí)

thou — see thou

Verb

thee (third-person singular simple present thees, present participle theeing, simple past and past participle theed)

1. (transitive) To address (somebody) as "thee"; to thou.

See also

English personal pronouns

			personal pronoun			possessive pronoun	possessive determiner
			subjective	objective	reflexive
first person	singular		I	me	myself	mine	my mine (before vowels, archaic)
	plural		we	us	ourselves ourself	ours	our
second person	singular	standard	you	you	yourself	yours yourn (obsolete outside dialects)	your
		archaic, informal	thou	thee	thyself theeself	thine	thy thine (before vowels)
	plural	standard	you you all ye (archaic)	you you all	yourselves	yours yourn (obsolete outside dialects)	your
		informal / dialectal	(see list of dialectal forms at you and inflected forms in those entries)
third person	singular	masculine	he	him	himself hisself (archaic)	his hisn (obsolete outside dialects)	his
		feminine	she	her	herself	hers hern (obsolete outside dialects)	her
		neuter	it	it	itself	its his (archaic)	its his (archaic)
		genderless	they	them	themself, themselves	theirs	their
		genderless, nonspecific (formal)	one	one	oneself	–	one's
	plural		they	them	themselves	theirs theirn (obsolete outside dialects)	their

Etymology 2

From Middle English theen (“to increase, prosper, flourish”), from Old English þēon (“to thrive, prosper, flourish, grow”), from Proto-Germanic *þinhaną (“to thrive, succeed”), from Proto-Indo-European *tenk- (“to succeed, turn out well”). Cognate with Dutch gedijen (“to flourish, thrive, prosper, succeed”), German gedeihen (“to thrive”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌸𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌰𐌽 (gaþeihan, “to increase, thrive”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: thē, IPA^(key): /θiː/
• Rhymes: -iː

Alternative forms

• the (Scotland)

Verb

thee (third-person singular simple present thees, present participle theeing, simple past and past participle theed)

1. (intransitive, Britain, obsolete) To thrive; prosper.
   • Spenser

     Well mote thee, as well can wish your thought.

Derived terms

• theedom

Etymology 3

From Pitman zee, which it is related to phonetically and graphically, and the sound it represents.

Noun

thee (plural thees)

1. The letter ⟨(⟩, which stands for the th sound /ð/ in Pitman shorthand.

Related terms

• ith
• eth, the name of the IPA letter for this sound

Anagrams

• ethe

---

Acehnese

Etymology

From Proto-Chamic *thɔw, from Proto-Malayo-Chamic, from Proto-Malayo-Sumbawan, from Proto-Sunda-Sulawesi, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *taqu, from Proto-Austronesian *Caqu.

Verb

thee

1. to be informed

---

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowing from Min Nan 茶 (tê) through Malay teh. The "-h-" is a faux-Greek spelling (compare Greek τσάι (tsái)).

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eː
• IPA^(key): /teː/

Noun

Gevuld theeglas
Filled tea glass

thee m (plural theeën, diminutive theetje n)

1. tea

Derived terms

• theeglas
• theelepel
• theepauze

Descendants

• Afrikaans: tee
• → Danish: te, the
  • → Faroese: te
• → English: tea
  • Gullah: tea
  • Jamaican Creole: tea
  • → Abenaki: ti
  • → Chickasaw: tii'
  • → Cocopa: ṭi·
  • → Cornish: té
  • → Cree:
    • Canadian syllabics: ᑎᕀ (tiy)
    • Latin: tiy
  • → Irish: tae
  • → Maori: tī
  • → Malecite-Passamaquoddy: ti
  • → Mikasuki: ti'g'tlo'q, ji'gitlo'q (“kettle”) (from "tea kettle")
  • → Panamint: tii
  • → Unami: ti
  • → Welsh: te
• → French: thé
  • Haitian Creole: te
  • Louisiana Creole French: thé
  • → Greek: τέϊον (téïon) (with neuter suffix -ion)
  • → Italian: tè
    • → Romansch: te, té, tè
  • → Norman: thée
  • → Occitan: tè
  • → Old Armenian: թէյ (tʿēy) (post-classical)
    • Armenian: թեյ (tʿey)
  • → Romansch: te, té, tè
  • → Tiri: tee
  • → Walloon: té
• → German: Tee
  • → Dutch Low Saxon: tee
  • → German Low German: Tee
    • Plautdietsch: Tee
  • → Estonian: tee
  • → Hunsrik: Tee
  • → Lower Sorbian: tej
  • → Romansch: te, té, tè
  • → Saterland Frisian: Tee
  • → Silesian: tyj
    • → Slovene: te (dialectal)
  • → Silesian German: Tee
  • → Vilamovian: tyy
  • → Zipser German: Tee
• → Icelandic: te
• → New Latin: thea
  • ⇒ Latin: herba thea (“herb tea”)
    • → Polish: herbata
      • → Belarusian: гарба́та (harbáta)
      • → Kashubian: arbata
      • → Lithuanian: arbata
      • → Samogitian: erbeta
      • → Ukrainian: герба́та (herbáta), герба́тка (herbátka)
• → Latvian: tēja
• → Norwegian: te
• → Spanish: té
  • → Asturian: té
  • → Basque: te
  • → Catalan: te
  • → Galician: té
  • → Navajo: dééh
  • → Occitan: tè
• → Swedish: te, the, thé
  • → Finnish: tee
• → West Frisian: tee

Anagrams

• heet, hete

---

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English þĕ.

Pronoun

thee

1. Alternative form of þe

References

• “the, (pron.2)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 5 May 2018.

Etymology 2

From Old English þēon.

Verb

thee

1. Alternative form of theen

---

Old Irish

Adjective

thee

1. Alternative spelling of thé: lenited form of tee (“hot”).

---

Scots

Etymology

From Old English þēoh, from Proto-Germanic *þeuhą, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tewk-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /θiː/

Noun

thee (plural thees)

1. thigh