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is

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Translingual

Etymology

Clipping of Icelandic íslenska.

Symbol

is

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

See also

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
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

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.
  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
Alternative forms
Synonyms
Derived terms

See also

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

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Afar

Etymology 1

Related to Sidamo ise.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈis/ [ˈʔɪs]
  • Hyphenation: is

Pronoun

ís

  1. she
See also
More information 1st person, 2nd person ...

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈis/ [ˈʔɪs]
  • Hyphenation: is

Pronoun

ís

  1. thyself, yourself
  2. himself, herself
  3. (Awash) myself
See also
More information 1st person, 2nd person ...

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

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

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

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

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

More information common gender, singular ...

Derived terms

References

Dutch

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Verb

is

  1. third-person singular present indicative of zijn; is, equals
    Twaalf min drie is negentwelve minus three equals nine

Etymology 2

Adverb

is

  1. (informal, dialectal, often proscribed) alternative form of eens (once)

Anagrams

German

Pronunciation

Verb

is

  1. alternative form of is'

Gothic

Romanization

is

  1. romanization of 𐌹𐍃

Hungarian

Etymology

Doublet of és (and).

Pronunciation

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 műtétThe 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?
    1. (in a rhetorical question) ever (intensifying the question)
      Hogy is felejthetném el?How could I ever forget?
      Miért is nem maradtam otthon?Why, oh why did I not stay home?
  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).

Questions that have an "is" standing after an interrogative word (in sense 3) are spoken with a rising intonation which then falls on the last syllable – like yes-or-no questions –, in contrast with those without "is", which have falling intonation throughout the sentence. Rhetorical questions (sense 3.1) don't have this distinction.

Derived terms

See also

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

More information A user has added this entry to requests for verification(+) ...

Etymology

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

Adverb

is

  1. not
    bekoŕ to is abel iŕit 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

    From Old Irish os.

    Pronunciation

    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): (before nouns and adjectives) /(i)sˠ/, (before the pronouns é, í, ea, iad) /ʃ/

      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 isthe 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 i do (literally be in your) is used as the imperative instead (e.g. Bí i d’fhear! (Be a man!, literally 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), 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 (than).
      More information simple copular forms, affirmative ...

      v Used before vowel sounds

      Karakalpak

      Etymology

      From Proto-Turkic *īĺč.

      Noun

      is

      1. work

      See also

      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

      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 6566

      Latin

      Etymology 1

      From Proto-Italic *is, from Proto-Indo-European *ís. Cognate with Oscan 𐌝𐌔𐌝𐌊 (ísík), Umbrian 𐌄𐌓𐌄 (ere), and further with Lithuanian jis, Proto-Slavic *.

      Pronunciation

      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 sermōnēstalk 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 possitas far as [any of that is] possible
        1. As an internal accusative: for that reason, on that account
          idque gaudeōand 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 deducible 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.

      More information singular, plural ...

      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 , 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
      See also
      More information singular, plural ...
      1. Pre-classical.
      2. Emphatic.
      3. Rare.

      Etymology 2

      Inflected form of (go).

      Pronunciation

      Verb

      īs

      1. second-person singular present active indicative of

      References

      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

      Pronunciation

      Noun

      is (uncountable)

      1. ice (frozen water):
        1. A layer of frozen water as a surface.
        2. (rare) An individual portion of ice.
      2. (rare, figurative) That which is short-lived like ice.
      3. (rare) icy conditions
      Derived terms
      Descendants
      • English: ice (see there for further descendants)
      • Scots: ice
      References

      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

      Pronunciation

      Verb

      is

      1. third-person singular present indicative of been
        Synonym: bith
      Usage notes

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

      Descendants

      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)

      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

      North Frisian

      Alternative forms

      Etymology

      From Old Frisian īs, from Proto-West Germanic *īs, from Proto-Germanic *īsą, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyH- (ice).

      Noun

      is

      1. (Föhr-Amrum, Mooring) ice

      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

      Derived terms

      References

      Anagrams

      Norwegian Nynorsk

      Etymology

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

      Pronunciation

      Noun

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

      1. ice
      2. ice cream

      Synonyms

      Derived terms

      References

      Nyishi

      Alternative forms

      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

      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 (/i/ or /i:/)
      Declension

      Strong a-stem:

      More information singular, plural ...
      Derived terms
      Descendants

      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

      Pronunciation

      Verb

      is

      1. third-person singular present indicative of wesan
      Descendants
      • Middle English: is

      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

      Old Irish

      Alternative forms

      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

      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)
      • (is not)

      Descendants

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

      See also

      Further reading

      Old Saxon

      Etymology 1

      From Proto-Germanic *it.

      Pronoun

      is (is)

      1. his, its
      Declension
      More information nominative, accusative ...

      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 (/i/ or /i:/)
      Declension
      More information singular, plural ...
      Descendants
      • Middle Low German: îs
        • Low German: Ies
          • German Low German: Ies
            • Plautdietsch: Iess

      Old Welsh

      Onondaga

      Portuguese

      Sardinian

      Scots

      Scottish Gaelic

      Swedish

      Tok Pisin

      Turkish

      Volapük

      Welsh

      West Frisian

      Yola

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