is

See also: Appendix:Variations of "is"

Languages (42)

Translingual • English

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Page categories

Translingual

Etymology

Clipping of Icelandic íslenska.

Symbol

is

1. (international standards) ISO 639-1 language code for Icelandic.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Icelandic terms

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

IS

Wikipedia

Etymology 1

From Middle English is, from Old English is, from Proto-West Germanic *ist, from Proto-Germanic *isti (a form of Proto-Germanic *wesaną (“to be”)), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti (“is”).

Cognate with West Frisian is (“is”), Dutch is (“is”), German ist (“is”), Yiddish איז (iz, “is”), Afrikaans is (“am, are, is”) Old Swedish är, er, Old Norse er, es.

Further cognates include, among others, Latin est, Ancient Greek ἐστί (estí), Sanskrit अस्ति (asti), Persian است (ast), Russian есть (jestʹ), all with the same meaning.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US, Canada, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ɪz/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ɘz/
• (Indic) IPA^(key): /is/; /iz/, (affrication) /id͡ʒ/
• Rhymes: -ɪz

Verb

is

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of be

   He is a doctor.

   • 1999 January 8, Ken Starr, quoting Bill Clinton, Referral from Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr in Conformity with the Requirements of Title 28, United States Code, Section 595(c) (Starr Report)‎, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, retrieved 14 February 2020, page 176:

     "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is."

   • 2012, Robert Moore, Where the Gold is Buried, a legend of Old Fort Niagara, →ISBN, page 137:

     "It's not two weeks yet," I reminded her, hoping that might somehow cheer her. […] "Tomorrow is two weeks," Ruth said in a distant voice, staring into the flames.

2. (now colloquial) Used in phrases with existential there (also here and where) when the semantic subject is plural.

   There is three of them there.

   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], page 141, column 2:

     Ber. There is five in the firſt ſhew, / Ken. You are deceiued, tis not so.

3. (dialectal) present indicative of be; am, are, is.
   • 2001, “Witness (1 Hope)”, in Run Come save me, performed by Roots Manuva:

     Let the whole world know we's on some off-key tip

   • 2012, Trae Macklin, Flippin' The Hustle:

     "Them niggas shot my girl, yo! And I ain't gonna sleep until all of them niggas is dead!" RJ hissed.

   • 2013, Tu-Shonda Whitaker, The Ex Factor, page 270:

     "Y'all is some disorganized niggahs," Mama Byrd said.

   • 2016, “Don't Hurt Yourself”, in Lemonade, performed by Beyoncé:

     Who the fuck do you think I is? / You ain't married to no average bitch, boy

   • 2022, “Plan B”, performed by Megan Thee Stallion:

     Nigga, yeah, you's a bitch

   • 2023, “Barbie World”, in Barbie: The Album, performed by Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice:

     Like Jazzie, Stacie, Nicki / All of the Barbies is pretty / All of the Barbies is bad

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:is.

Alternative forms

• ees
• 's
• iz

Synonyms

• beeth (archaic)
• bes (now AAVE)

Derived terms

• as-is
• is-a
• isness
• isn't
• iswas
• tiswas

See also

See also

• am
• are
• art
• be
• been
• beest
• being
• was
• wast
• were
• wert

Etymology 2

Alternative pronunciation of us.

Pronoun

is

1. (Geordie) Alternative spelling of us (“me”).

Etymology 3

From i +‎ -s.

Noun

is

1. (rare) Alternative form of i's.

Anagrams

• s͞i, Si., S. I., SI, S.I., si, Si

Afar

Etymology 1

Related to Sidamo ise.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈis/ [ˈʔɪs]

Pronoun

ís

1. she

See also

Afar personal pronouns

		1st person	2nd person	3rd person
				m	f
subject	singular	anú	atú	úsuk	ís
	plural	nanú	isín	úsun
object	singular	yó	kó	ká	tét
	plural	né	sín	kén

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈis/ [ˈʔɪs]

Pronoun

ís

1. thyself, yourself
2. himself, herself
3. (Awash) myself

See also

Afar reflexive pronouns

		1st person	2nd person	3rd person
simple	singular	ínni	ís
	plural	nínni	isínni, sínni
emphatic	singular	ínnih	ísih
	plural	nínnih	isínnih, sínnih

References

• E. M. Parker; R. J. Hayward (1985), “is”, in An Afar-English-French dictionary (with Grammatical Notes in English), University of London, →ISBN
• Mohamed Hassan Kamil (2015), L’afar: description grammaticale d’une langue couchitique (Djibouti, Erythrée et Ethiopie)‎, Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis)

Afrikaans

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əs/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

is

1. am, are, is (present tense, all persons, plural and singular of wees, to be)
2. Forms the perfect passive voice when followed by a past participle

Bagusa

Noun

is

1. woman

References

• Mark Donohue, Syntactic and Lexical Factors Conditioning the Diffusion of Sound Change, Oceanic Linguistics 44 (2005), page 428

Bavarian

Alternative forms

• isch (South Bavarian, Tyrolean, South Tyrolean)

Etymology

From Middle High German ist, from Old High German ist, from Proto-West Germanic *ist, from Proto-Germanic *isti.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /is/, /iːs/

Verb

is

1. third-person singular present indicative of sei

Catalan

Noun

is

1. plural of i

Cimbrian

Pronoun

is

1. (Sette Comuni) alternative form of es (“it”)

References

• “is” in Martalar, Umberto Martello; Bellotto, Alfonso (1974), Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo

Danish

Etymology

From Old Danish is, iis, from Old Norse íss, from Proto-Germanic *īsą, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyH-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈiːˀs/, [ˈiˀs]
• Rhymes: -iːs
• Rhymes: -iːˀs

Noun

is c (singular definite isen, plural indefinite is)

1. (uncountable) ice (water in frozen form)
2. (uncountable) ice, ice cream (dessert, not necessarily containing cream)
3. (countable) ice, ice cream (ice dessert on a stick or in a wafer cone)

Inflection

Declension of is

common gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	is	isen	is	isene
genitive	is'	isens	is'	isenes

Derived terms

• bryde isen
• chokoladeis
• der er ingen ko på isen
• drivis
• dødis
• fjordis
• flødeis
• fryse til is
• grødis
• havis
• indlandsis
• is i maven
• isanretning
• isbar
• isblomst
• isbræ
• isbåd
• iscreme
• isdessert
• isdække
• ise
• iset
• isfyldt
• isglat
• ishav
• ishus
• iskage
• iskiosk
• isklump
• iskold
• iskrystal
• islag
• ismaskine
• ismasse
• ispind
• isslag
• istap
• isterning
• jordbæris
• lakridsis
• lægge på is
• nougatis
• nyis
• pakis
• pistacieis
• sjapis
• sodavandsis
• sort is
• storis
• vaffelis
• vaniljeis
• være ude på tynd is

References

• “is” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “is” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪs/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

is

1. third-person singular present indicative of zijn; is, equals

   Twaalf min drie is negen — twelve minus three equals nine

Adverb

is

1. (informal, dialect) clipping of eens

Anagrams

• si

German

Pronunciation

• Audio (Germany):

  (file)

Verb

is

1. alternative form of is'

Gothic

Romanization

is

1. romanization of 𐌹𐍃

Hungarian

Etymology

Doublet of és (“and”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈiʃ]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iʃ

Adverb

is (not comparable) (clitic)

1. also, too, as well

   Synonyms: szintén, ugyancsak, úgyszintén, éppúgy, (formal; the others are relatively literary in style) szintúgy

   Én is szeretem a csokit. ― I, too, like chocolate (aside from other people).

   (Én) a csokit is szeretem. ― I also like chocolate (aside from other things).

2. even, up to, as much as, as long as

   Három óráig is tarthat a műtét ― The operation may even take three hours.

3. (after an interrogative word) again (used in a question to ask something one has forgotten)

   Hogy is hívják? ― What's that called, again?

4. sure enough, indeed

   Synonyms: tényleg, valóban, csakugyan

   Aznapra esőt mondtak, és el is kezdett esni. ― Rain had been predicted for that day and, sure enough, it was beginning to rain. (literally, “They had said rain for…”)

Usage notes

When it is used with a concessive adverb (“no matter what/​who​/​when/how”, “however [good, bad]”, “long as it was”, “even if…” etc.), it is traditionally placed after the verb, though it is common in colloquial style to use it after the adverb instead:

(traditionally, chiefly in literary style) Bármilyen hosszúra nyúlt is az előadás,…
(more recently) Bármilyen hosszúra is nyúlt az előadás,…

No matter how long the lecture​/​performance stretched,…

It applies to verb-final set phrases as well, similarly to érzi magát in this clause: még ha ettől rosszul érezzük is magunkat / …rosszul is érezzük magunkat (“even if it makes us feel bad”).

Derived terms

Compound words

• csakis
• igenis
• legalábbis
• máris
• mégis
• ugyanis
• úgyis

Expressions

• a falnak is füle van
• a jég hátán is megél
• a kákán is csomót keres
• akit a kígyó megmart, a gyíktól is fél
• bármi történjék is
• ha nincs ló, jó a szamár is
• jóból is megárt a sok
• segíts magadon, s az Isten is megsegít
• sok jó ember kis helyen is elfér
• száz szónak is egy a vége
• vak tyúk is talál szemet

See also

• egyaránt (“equally, alike”)

Further reading

• is in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.

Iberian

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Etymology

Compare Basque ez, possibly connected to Proto-Basque *eze.

Adverb

is

1. not

   bekoŕ to is abel iŕ ― it will not be a modest advance for a generation

References

• Villamor, Fernando (2020), A basic dictionary and grammar of the Iberian language

Irish

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Irish os.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪsˠ/, /sˠ/

Conjunction

is

1. reduced form of agus (“and; as”)

   Dia is Muire duit.

   Hello to you, too. (lit. God and Mary to you.)

   • 1899, Franz Nikolaus Finck, Die araner mundart [The Aran Dialect], volume II (overall work in German), Marburg: Elwert’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 1:

     wil nə fatī xō mŭȧ, s dūŕc šē?

     [An bhfuil na fataí chomh maith is dúirt sé?]

     Are the potatoes as good as he said?

   • 1899, Franz Nikolaus Finck, Die araner mundart [The Aran Dialect], volume II (overall work in German), Marburg: Elwert’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 1:

     ə ʒēĺǵə, l̄aurīr ə gūǵə mūn, ńī h-ønn̥̄ ī s ə ʒēlgə š agń̥ə

     [An Ghaeilge a labhraíthear i gCúige Mumhan, ní hionann í is an Ghaeilge seo againne.]

     The Irish used in Munster isn’t the same as our Irish.

Etymology 2

From Old Irish is (“is”), from Proto-Celtic *esti, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti (“to be”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪsˠ/, /sˠ/ (before nouns and adjectives)
• IPA^(key): /ʃ/ (before the pronouns é, í, ea, iad)

Particle

is

1. Present/future realis copula form

   Is múinteoir é Dónall. ― Dónall is a teacher. (definition: predicate is indefinite)

   Is é Dónall an múinteoir. ― Dónall is the teacher. (identification: predicate is definite)

   Is féidir liom snámh. ― I can swim. (idiomatic noun predicate)

   Is maith liom tae. ― I like tea. (idiomatic adjective predicate)

   Is mise a chonaic é. ― I'm the one who saw him. (compare Hiberno-English "'Tis I who saw him"; cleft sentence)

   Is é Dónall atá ina mhúinteoir. ― It's Dónall who is a teacher. (cleft sentence)

2. Used to introduce the comparative/superlative form of adjectives

   an buachaill is mó ― the bigger boy; the biggest boy

   Is mó an buachaill ná Séamas.

   The boy is bigger than James.

   Is é Séamas an buachaill is mó in Éirinn!

   James is the biggest boy in Ireland! (lit. "It is James (who is) the boy (who) is biggest in Ireland")

Usage notes

• Used in the present and future for identification or definition of a subject as the person/object identified in the predicate of the sentence. Sometimes used with noun or adjective predicates, especially in certain fixed idiomatic phrases. Used to introduce cleft sentences, which are extremely common in Irish. It is not a verb.

• The copula does not exist in the imperative and does not have a nominal form analogous to the verbal noun. The phrase bí i do (literally “be in your”) is used as the imperative instead (e.g. Bí i d’fhear! – “Be a man!” (lit. “Be in your man!”)), and equivalent non-copular nominal constructions must be used in place of their hypothetical copular equivalents: bheith ábalta (“to be able”, in place of the non-existent nominal form of is féidir), bheith ag iarraidh (“to want”, in place of the non-existent nominal form of is mian), bheith ina (“to be”, as with the imperative), etc.

• In comparative/superlative formations, is is strictly speaking the relative of the copula, hence an buachaill is mó literally means "the boy who is biggest", i.e. "the biggest boy". The thing compared is introduced by ná (“than”).

Related terms

Irish copular forms

simple copular forms
		affirmative	negative	interrogative	negative interrogative
present/future
main clause		is	ní	an	nach
relative clause	direct		nach	–
	indirect	ar, arbv
other subordinate clause		gur, gurbv		an	nach
past/conditional
main clause		ba, b’v	níor, níorbhv	ar, arbhv	nár, nárbhv
relative clause	direct	ba, abv	nár, nárbhv	–
	indirect	ar, arbhv
other subordinate clause		gur, gurbhv		ar, arbhv	nár, nárbhv
present subjunctive
–		gura, gurabv	nára, nárabv	–
compound copular forms
base word		present/future		past/conditional
cá		cár, cárbv		cár, cárbhv
cé		cér, cérbv		cér, cérbhv
dá		–		dá mba, dá mb’v
de/do		dar, darbv		dar, darbhv
faoi		faoinar, faoinarbv		faoinar, faoinarbhv
i		inar, inarbv		inar, inarbhv
le		lenar, lenarbv		lenar, lenarbhv
má		más		má ba, má b’v
mura		mura, murabv		murar, murarbhv
ó (preposition)		ónar, ónarbv		ónar, ónarbhv
ó (conjunction)		ós		ó ba, ó b’v
trí		trínar, trínarbv		trínar, trínarbhv

^v Used before vowel sounds

Karakalpak

Etymology

From Proto-Turkic *īĺč.

Noun

is

1. work

See also

• jumıs

References

• N. A. Baskakov, editor (1958), “ис”, in Karakalpaksko-Russkij Slovarʹ [Karakalpak-Russian Dictionary], Moscow: Akademija Nauk Uzbekskoj SSR, →ISBN

Kwerba

Noun

is

1. woman

References

• Mark Donohue, Syntactic and Lexical Factors Conditioning the Diffusion of Sound Change, Oceanic Linguistics 44 (2005), page 428 (used in both Kwerba proper and Anggreso Kwerba)

Lacandon

Etymology

From Proto-Mayan *iihs.

Noun

is

1. sweet potato

Derived terms

• chʌk taꞌan is
• kꞌʌn tsꞌuꞌ is
• sʌk is

References

• Baer, Phillip; Baer, Mary; Chan Kꞌin, Manuel; Chan Kꞌin, Antonio (2018), Diccionaro maya lacandón (Serie de vocabularios y diccionarios indígenas “Mariano Silva y Aceves”; 51)‎ (in Spanish), Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, A.C., pages 65–66

Latin

Etymology 1

From Proto-Italic *is, from Proto-Indo-European *éy. Cognate with Oscan 𐌉𐌆𐌉𐌊 (izik), Umbrian 𐌄𐌓𐌄 (ere), and further with Lithuanian jis, Proto-Slavic *jь.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈɪs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈis]

Pronoun

is (feminine ea, neuter id); demonstrative pronoun

1. (pronoun) this or that man, woman or thing; he, she, it, they (previously introduced)
   1. Picks up the subject or object after an intervening clause, to avoid repeating the relative pronoun quī, or substitutes syntactically fronted expressions
2. (correlative) that...which; he, she...who, it...that
   1. (anaphoric) of such a nature, degree, kind (previously mentioned or implied)
   2. (cataphoric) the following; of the following nature, degree, kind
3. (determiner) this or that [man, woman or thing] (as a noun phrase modifier)
4. (with genus with nominative or modī with genitive) such a, that sort of

   eiusmodī sermōnēs ― talk of that kind

   • Marcus Valerius Probus, Fragmenta 66.29:

     […] 'urbīs' an 'urbēs'. Nam cum id genus sīs, quod videō, ut sine iactūrā tuā peccēs, nihil perdēs utrum dīxeris.

     […] 'urbīs' or 'urbēs'. For as far as I can see, you're the kind of man who doesn't lose sleep over his mistakes; as such you'll lose nothing whichever one you use.

5. Substituting a clause.

   quod eius fierī possit ― as far as [any of that is] possible

   1. As an internal accusative: for that reason, on that account

      idque gaudeō ― and I'm glad about that

   2. Used in various prepositional phrases.

Usage notes

Latin is is an endophoric pronoun and determiner, which may be employed either as an anaphora or as a cataphora, meaning it serves as a reference to something preceding or following, respectively, in the text. Unlike a demonstrative such as ille or English this, is does not have a deictic function, meaning it cannot point to a referent in the world, but only one named in the text; nor can it be used exophorically as a third-person pronoun such as English (s)he that refers to something not already defined in the context but presumed to be known or deduceable by the addressee. Thus we see it used with first, second and third person.

The exophoric demonstratives/determiners in Latin are hic (proximal, near the speaker), iste (medial, near the listener), and ille (distal, far from both). Note that Latin doesn't have any 3rd-person pronouns, using the aforementioned demonstratives in their place.

Oblique cases are rare in elevated poetry.

Declension

Demonstrative pronoun.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	is	ea	id		iī1 eī ī	eae	ea
genitive	eius ejus				eōrum eum	eārum	eōrum eum
dative	eī2 e͡i ēī	eī2 e͡i ēī eae	eī2 e͡i ēī		iīs1 eīs īs	iīs1 eīs īs eābus	iīs1 eīs īs
accusative	eum	eam	id		eōs	eās	ea
ablative	eō	eā	eō		iīs1 eīs īs
vocative	—				—

¹The nom./dat./abl. plural forms regularly developed into a monosyllable /iː(s)/, with later remodelling - compare the etymology of deus. This /iː/ was normally spelled as EI during and as II after the Republic; a disyllabic iī, spelled II, Iꟾ, appears in Silver Age poetry, while disyllabic eīs is only post-Classical. Other spellings include EEI(S), EIEI(S), IEI(S).
²The dat. singular is found spelled EIEI (here represented as ēī) and scanned as two longs in Plautus, but also as a monosyllable. The latter is its normal scansion in Classical. Other spellings include EEI, IEI.

Derived terms

• idcircō
• īdem
• ideō

See also

Latin correlatives ^(edit)

type	demonstrative			anaphoric	identity	interrogative			indefinite					negative	other
	proximal	medial	distal			indefinite	irrelative / emphatic	relative		indefinite	free choice	universal	negative polarity
basic	hic	iste, istic	ille, illic	is	ipse, īdem	ecquis, ecqui, ecquisnam, ecquinam	quisnam, quinam	quis/quī	quisquis, quīcumque	quis, quī, quīdam, aliquis, aliquī, quispiam	quīvis, quīlibet	quisque	quisquam, ūllus, °aliquisquam	nēmō, nihil, nūllus	alius
dual							uternam	uter	utercumque	alteruter	utervīs, uterlibet	uterque		neuter	alter
place	hīc	istīc	illīc	ibī̆	ibī̆dem		ubinam	ubī̆	ubiubi, ubī̆cumque	alicubī, uspiam	ubivīs, ubilibet	ubīque	usquam	nusquam, nūllibī	alibī, aliās
source	hinc	istinc	illinc	inde	indidem			unde	undecumque, undeunde	alicunde	°undelibet	undique			aliunde
destination	hūc, °hōrsum	istūc, °istōrsum	illūc, °illōrsum	eō	eōdem	ecquo	quonam	quō, quōrsum	quōquō, quōcumque	aliquō, quōpiam, °aliquōvorsum	quōvīs, quōlibet		quōquam	nusquam, nūllōrsum	aliō, aliōrsum
method, means, path, place	hāc	istāc	illāc	eā	eādem	ecqua	quanam	quā	quāquā, quācumque	aliquā	quāvīs, quālibet	quāque	°quāquam	nēquāquam, haudquāquam	aliā
manner	hōc modō	istō modō	illō modō	ita, sīc, eō modō	item, itidem		utinam	ut, quī, quō modō, quōmodo, quemadmodum	utut, utcumque, quōmodocumque	quī, quōdam modō, aliquō modō	quōmodolibet	utīque	utiquam, ūllō modō	neutiquam, nūllō modō	aliter, aliōquī, alterō/aliō modō
time	†num, nunc		ōlim	tum, tunc	simul	ecquando		quandō, ‡cum	cumque, quandōcumque, quandōque	quondam, aliquandō	quandōlibet	quandōque	umquam	numquam	aliās
quantity	†nam			tam	†tamen, †tandem			quam	†quamquam, quamcumque	aliquam	quamvīs, quamlibet	quamque	†quamquam
size				tantus	tantusdem			quantus	quantusquantus quantuscumque	aliquantus	quantusvīs, quantuslibet
size (smallness)				tantulus				quantulus, quantillus	quantuluscumque	aliquantulus	quantuluslibet
quality				tālis		ecqualis	qualisnam	quālis	quālis, quāliscumque	aliquālis	quālislibet	qualisque		nihili
number				tot	totidem		quotnam	quot	quotquot, quotcumque	aliquot	quotlibet
order				totus				quotus	quotuscumque	aliquotus	quotuslibet
repetition				totiēns				quotiēns	quotiēnscumque	aliquotiēns	quotiēnslibet	quotiensque
time (continuous)				tamdiu				quamdiu	quamdiucumque	aliquamdiu		quamque diu
multiplication				totuplex				quotuplex
proportion								quotuplus
† Turned conjunction with original meaning somewhat dissimilated ° Rare ‡only used as a conjunction, not as an interrogative

Latin personal pronouns together with the possessive and reflexive pronouns

			pronoun						possessive
number	person		nominative	genitive	dative	accusative	ablative
singular	first		ego	meī	mihi	mē			meus, -a, -um
	second		tū	tuī	tibi	tē			tuus, -a, -um
	third	m	is	ēius	eī	eum	eō		—
		f	ea			eam	eā
		n	id			id	eō
plural	first		nōs	nostrī, nostrum	nōbīs	nōs	nōbīs		noster, -tra, -trum
	second		vōs	vestrī, vestrum	vōbīs	vōs	vōbīs		vester, -tra, -trum
	third	m	eī, iī	eōrum	eīs	eōs	eīs		—
		f	eae	eārum		eās
		n	ea	eōrum		ea
reflexive			—	suī	sibi	sē, sēsē			suus, -a, -um

Etymology 2

Inflected form of eō (“go”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈiːs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈis]

Verb

īs

1. second-person singular present active indicative of eō

References

• is in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Middle Dutch

Verb

is

1. third-person singular present indicative of wēsen

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English īs, from Proto-West Germanic *īs.

Alternative forms

• ise, yes, yce, yys, ys, ijs, yse, ysz, hyse, hyys, ice, isse, ysse, yis

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /iːs/

Noun

is (uncountable)

2. ice (frozen water):
   1. A layer of frozen water as a surface.
   2. (rare) An individual portion of ice.
3. (rare, figurative) That which is short-lived like ice.
4. (rare) icy conditions

Derived terms

• isykle
• Iseland

Descendants

• English: ice (see there for further descendants)
• Scots: ice

References

• “īs, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 15 June 2018.

Etymology 2

From Old English is, third-person present singular of wesan (“to be”), from Proto-Germanic *isti, third-person present singular of *wesaną (“to be, become”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti.

Alternative forms

• es, ys, us

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /is/, /iz/

Verb

is

2. third-person singular present indicative of been

   Synonym: bith

Usage notes

This form is more common than bith for the third-person singular.

Descendants

• English: is
• Scots: is
• Yola: is, ez

Etymology 3

Determiner

is

1. alternative form of his (“his”)

Pronoun

is

1. alternative form of his (“his”)

Etymology 4

Pronoun

is

1. alternative form of his (“her”)

Etymology 5

Pronoun

is

1. alternative form of his (“them”)

Etymology 6

Noun

is

1. alternative form of iren (“iron”)

Navajo

Interjection

is

1. as if, as if it were true, it could be, is it really?, what do you mean by that?, so you say expressing surprise

Usage notes

Usually spelled with the final letter repeated: iss, isss, issss.

Alternative forms

• as
• isdaʼ

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse íss (“ice”), from Proto-Germanic *īsaz, a variant of *īsą (“ice”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyH- (“ice, frost”).

Noun

is m (definite singular isen, indefinite plural is or iser, definite plural isene)

1. (uncountable) ice, ice cream
2. (countable) ice cream on a stick or cone.

Synonyms

• iskrem (ice cream)

Derived terms

• isbit
• isbjørn
• isbre
• isbryter
• isfjell
• isflak
• isfri
• ishall
• ishockey
• iskaffe
• iskald
• iskappe
• islagt
• istapp
• iste
• isterning
• istid
• Nordishavet
• pakkis
• sjøis
• Sørishavet
• vaniljeis

References

• “is” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Anagrams

• -is, si

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse íss, from Proto-Germanic *īsą, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyH-. Akin to English ice.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /iːs/

Noun

is m (definite singular isen, indefinite plural isar, definite plural isane)

1. ice
2. ice cream

Synonyms

• iskrem (ice cream)

Derived terms

• drivis
• isbit
• isbjørn
• isbre
• isfjell
• isflak
• isfri
• ishall
• ishockey
• iskald
• iskappe
• istapp
• iste
• isterning
• istid
• Nordishavet
• sjøis
• Sørishavet
• vaniljeis

References

• “is” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Nyishi

Alternative forms

• isi, esi

Etymology

From Proto-Tani *si, from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *si.

Noun

is

1. water

References

• P. T. Abraham (2005), A Grammar of Nyishi Language‎, Delhi: Farsight Publishers and Distributors

Old English

Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *īsą. See there for more.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /iːs/

Noun

īs n

1. ice
   • the Legend of St Andrew

     Ofer ēastrēamas īs bryċġode.

     The ice formed a bridge over the streams.

2. the runic character ᛁ (/i/ or /i:/)
   • The Old English rune poem

     ᛁ byþ oferċeald, unġemeted slidor...

     Ice is very cold and immeasurably slippery...

Declension

Strong a-stem:

	singular	plural
nominative	īs	īs
accusative	īs	īs
genitive	īses	īsa
dative	īse	īsum

Derived terms

• īsċeald
• īsiġ
• īsearn

Descendants

• Middle English: is, ise, yes, yce, yys, ys, ijs, yse, ysz, hyse, hyys, ice, isse, ysse, yis
  • English: ice (see there for further descendants)
  • Scots: ice

Etymology 2

From Proto-West Germanic *ist, from Proto-Germanic *isti (a form of Proto-Germanic *wesaną (“to be”)), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti (“is”).

Alternative forms

• ys
• ᛁᛋ (is) — Near Fakenham plaque

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /is/

Verb

is

1. third-person singular present indicative of wesan

Descendants

• Middle English: is
  • English: is
  • Scots: is
  • Yola: is, ez

Old High German

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *īs. Compare Old Saxon īs, Old English īs, Old Norse íss.

Noun

īs

1. ice

Descendants

• Middle High German: īs
  • Alemannic German: Iis, Is, Isch

    Alsatian: Iis; Eis (northern)

    Italian Walser: isch, éisch

  • Bavarian: ais

    Cimbrian: ais

    Mòcheno: ais

  • Central Franconian: Eis, Ies

    Hunsrik: Eis

    Luxembourgish: Äis

    Transylvanian Saxon: Ais

  • German: Eis
  • Rhine Franconian:

    Frankfurt: [ais]

    Pennsylvania German: Eis

  • Vilamovian: ajs
  • Yiddish: אײַז (ayz)

Old Irish

Alternative forms

• iss

Etymology

The lemma is itself is from Proto-Celtic *esti, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti; other forms are from either *h₁es- or *bʰuH-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈisʲ/
• Rhymes: -is
• Hyphenation: is

Verb

is

1. to be
   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:is.

Usage notes

This is the so-called "copula", which is distinct from the "substantive verb" at·tá. The copula is used with noun predicates and to introduce a cleft sentence.

Conjugation

See Appendix:Old Irish conjugation of is for the complete conjugation.

Derived terms

• cesu (“although... is”)
• condid (“so that... is”)
• in (“is... ?”)
• masu (“if... is”)
• ní (“is not”)

Descendants

• Irish: is
• Manx: s’
• Scottish Gaelic: is

See also

• at·tá (substantive verb)

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 is”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Thurneysen, Rudolf (1940) [1909], D. A. Binchy and Osborn Bergin, transl., A Grammar of Old Irish, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, translation of Handbuch des Alt-Irischen (in German), →ISBN, §§ 791–818, pages 483–94; reprinted 2017
• Pedersen, Holger (1913), Vergleichende Grammatik der keltischen Sprachen [Comparative Grammar of the Celtic Languages] (in German), volume II, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, →ISBN, pages 419–431

Old Saxon

Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *it.

Pronoun

is (is)

1. his, its

Declension

Old Saxon personal pronouns

			nominative	accusative	dative	genitive
singular	1st person		ik	mī, me, mik	mī	mīn
	2nd person		thū	thī, thik	thī	thīn
	3rd person	m	hē	ina	imu	is
		f	siu	sia	iru	ira
		n	it		it	is
dual	1st person		wit	unk		unkero, unka
	2nd person		git	ink		inker, inka
plural	1st person		wī, we	ūs, unsik	ūs	ūser
	2nd person		gī, ge	eu, iu, iuu		euwar, iuwer, iuwar, iuwero, iuwera
	3rd person	m	sia		im	iro
		f	sia
		n	siu

Etymology 2

Verb

is

1. third-person singular present indicative of wesan

Etymology 3

From Proto-Germanic *īsą, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyH- (“ice, frost”). Cognate with Old Frisian īs (West Frisian iis), Old English īs (English ice), Dutch ijs, Old High German īs (German Eis), Old Norse íss (Danish and Swedish is).

Noun

īs n

1. ice
2. The runic character ᛁ (/i/ or /i:/)

Declension

īs (neuter a-stem)

	singular	plural
nominative	īs	īs
accusative	īs	īs
genitive	īses	īsō
dative	īse	īsun
instrumental	—	—

Descendants

• Middle Low German: îs
  • Low German: Ies
    • German Low German: Ies
      • Plautdietsch: Iess