thee
EnglishEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From Middle English þe, from Old 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 Saterland Frisian die (“thee”), West Frisian dy (“thee”), German Low German di (“thee”), German dir (“thee”, dative pron.), Icelandic þér (“thee”). More at thou.
PronunciationEdit
PronounEdit
thee (second-person singular, objective case, nominative thou, reflexive thyself)
- (now chiefly archaic, literary) Objective and reflexive case of thou. [from 8th c.]
- 1598, William Shakespeare, Henry IV part 1, page 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.
- (now chiefly archaic, dialect) Thou. [from 12th c.]
- 1773, Frances Burney, Journals & Letters, Penguin 2001:
- [H]e immediately perceived when I was taken ill, and, after seeing Mama, said to me "I am afraid Thee art not well thyself?"
- 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Ship”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 84:
- "He says he's our man, Bildad," said Peleg, "he wants to ship."
"Dost thee?" said Bildad, in a hollow tone
- 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin:
- "What does thee want, father?" said Rachel.
Alternative formsEdit
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
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VerbEdit
thee (third-person singular simple present thees, present participle theeing, simple past and past participle theed)
- (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, 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, [...]
- (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
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”).
Alternative formsEdit
- the (Scotland)
PronunciationEdit
VerbEdit
thee (third-person singular simple present thees, present participle theeing, simple past and past participle theed)
- (intransitive, UK, obsolete) To thrive; prosper.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 33:
- 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)
- The letter ⟨(⟩, which stands for the th sound /ð/ in Pitman shorthand.
Related termsEdit
Etymology 4Edit
Respelling of the popularized by Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth.
ArticleEdit
thee
- (very rare, nonstandard) Alternative spelling of the
AnagramsEdit
AcehneseEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Proto-Chamic *thɔw, from Proto-Malayo-Chamic, from Proto-Malayo-Sumbawan, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *taqu, from Proto-Austronesian *Caqu.
VerbEdit
thee
- to be informed
DutchEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Hokkien 茶 (tê). The "-h-" is a faux-Greek spelling (compare Greek τσάι (tsái)).
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
thee m (plural theeën, diminutive theetje n)
Filled tea glass
Derived termsEdit
- ijsthee
- kamillethee
- kruidenthee
- muntthee
- rooibosthee
- theedoos
- theedrinker
- theeglas
- theekop
- theekrans
- theelepel
- theeleut
- theemuts
- theepauze
- theeplant
- theepot
- theeroos
- theezakje
DescendantsEdit
- Afrikaans: tee
- Berbice Creole Dutch: tei
- Negerhollands: thee, tee
- → Caribbean Javanese: teh
- → Dutch Low Saxon: thee
- → Danish: te
- → Faroese: te
- → English: tea
- → French: thé
- → Galibi Carib: te
- → German: Tee
- → Icelandic: te
- → New Latin: thea
- → Latvian: tēja
- → Norwegian: te
- → Sranan Tongo: te
- → Swedish: te, the, thé
- → Finnish: tee
- → West Frisian: tee
AnagramsEdit
Middle EnglishEdit
Etymology 1Edit
PronounEdit
thee
- Alternative form of þe (“thee”)
Etymology 2Edit
VerbEdit
thee
- Alternative form of theen
Old IrishEdit
AdjectiveEdit
thee
ScotsEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From Old English þēoh, from Proto-Germanic *þeuhą, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tewk-.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
thee (plural thees)
Etymology 2Edit
From Middle English theen, from Old English þēon, from Proto-Germanic *þinhaną.
VerbEdit
thee (third-person singular simple present thees, present participle theein, simple past theet, past participle theet)
Etymology 3Edit
From Middle English þe, from Old English þē (“thee”, originally dative, but later also accusative), from Proto-Germanic *þiz (“thee”), from Proto-Indo-European *te (“second-person singular pronoun”).
Alternative formsEdit
PronunciationEdit
PronounEdit
thee (subjective case thou, reflexive thysel, possessive determiner thy)
- (archaic outside Orkney and Shetland) thee, you (2nd person singular object pronoun, informal)
- (Orkney, Shetland) thou, you (2nd person singular subject pronoun, informal)
Usage notesEdit
- Regularly used throughout Scotland up until the middle of the 1800s; now only used as an archaism outside Shetland and Orkney.
ReferencesEdit
- “thou, pers. pron, v.” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.
YolaEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From Middle English þe, from Old English þē.
PronounEdit
thee
- thee
- 1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY:
- Fho told thee?
- Who told thee?
Etymology 2Edit
From Middle English þi, apocopated variant of þin, from Old English þīn, from Proto-West Germanic *þīn.
Alternative formsEdit
DeterminerEdit
thee
- thy
- 1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY:
- Coome to thee met; Coome thee wyse.
- Come to thy meat; Come thy ways.
Derived termsEdit
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 40 & 31