Open main menu
Wiktionary

thee

EnglishEdit

 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology 1Edit

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.

PronunciationEdit

  • enPR: thē, IPA(key): /ðiː/
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)
  • Rhymes: -iː
  • Homophone: the (when stressed)

PronounEdit

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

  1. (archaic, literary) Objective and reflexive 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.
    • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost:
      Michael, this my behest have thou in charge,
      Take to thee from among the Cherubim
      Thy choice of flaming Warriours, least the Fiend
    • 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 notesEdit

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

Derived termsEdit

TranslationsEdit
thou — see thou

VerbEdit

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

  1. (transitive) To address (a person) using the pronoun thee.
    Synonym: thou
    • 1677, William Gibson, “An Answer to John Cheyney’s Pamphlet Entituled The Shibboleth of Quakerism”, in The Life of God, which is the Light and Salvation of Men, Exalted: […], [London: s.n.], OCLC 802074687, page 134:
      What! doſt thou not believe that God's Thouing and theeing was and is ſound Speech? [...] And theeing & Thouing of one ſingle Perſon was the language of Chriſt Jeſus, and the Holy Prophets and Apoſtles both under the Diſpenſations of Law and Goſpel, [...]
  2. (intransitive) To use the word thee.
    Synonym: thou
    • 2006, Julian Dibbell, chapter 5, in Play Money: Or, How I Quit My Day Job and Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot, New York, N.Y.: Basic Books, →ISBN:
      The hardcore role-players will wake up one day feeling, like a dead weight on their chest, the strain of endless texting in Renaissance Faire English—yet dutifully go on theeing and thouing all the same.
    • 2009, David R. Keeston [pseudonym; Alan D. Jenkins], “Seeing God in the Ordinary”, in The Hitch Hikers’ Guide to the Gospel, [Morrisville, N.C.]: Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 39:
      You want to hear the word of God, and be challenged to go out and change the world. Instead, you are, for the fifth Sunday in a row, mewling on about purple-headed mountains (which is a bit of an imaginative stretch, since you live in East Anglia) and "theeing" and "thouing" all over the place.
See alsoEdit
English personal pronouns
personal pronoun possessive
pronoun		 possessive
determiner
subjective objective reflexive
first person singular I
me (colloquial)		 me myself mine my
mine (before vowels, archaic)
plural we us ourselves
ourself		 ours our
second person singular standard, formal you you yourself yours
yourn (obsolete outside dialects)		 your
archaic, informal thou thee thyself
theeself		 thine thy
thine (before vowels)
plural standard you
ye (archaic)		 you yourselves yours
yourn (obsolete outside dialects)		 your
colloquial you all you all – – your all's (nonstandard)
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, nonstandard 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 2Edit

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”).

PronunciationEdit

Alternative formsEdit

VerbEdit

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 termsEdit

Etymology 3Edit

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

NounEdit

thee (plural thees)

  1. The letter ⟨(⟩, which stands for the th sound /ð/ in Pitman shorthand.
Related termsEdit
  • ith
  • eth, the name of the IPA letter for this sound

AnagramsEdit

AcehneseEdit

DutchEdit

 
Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nl

EtymologyEdit

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

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

 
Gevuld theeglas
Filled tea glass

thee m (plural theeën, diminutive theetje n)

  1. tea

Derived termsEdit

DescendantsEdit

AnagramsEdit

Middle EnglishEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Old English þĕ.

PronounEdit

thee

  1. Alternative form of þe

ReferencesEdit

Etymology 2Edit

From Old English þēon.

VerbEdit

thee

  1. Alternative form of theen

Old IrishEdit

AdjectiveEdit

thee

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

ScotsEdit

Etymology 1Edit

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

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

thee (plural thees)

  1. thigh

Etymology 2Edit

From Middle English theen, from Old English þēon, from Proto-Germanic *þinhaną.

VerbEdit

thee (third-person singular present thees, present participle theein, past theet, past participle theet)

  1. (archaic, literary) To thrive, prosper
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=thee&oldid=54140904"