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thee

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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See also: Thee, thée, and the'e

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology 1

From Middle English þe, from Old English þē (“thee”, originally dative, but later also accusative, supplanting accusative þec), 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.

Pronunciation

Pronoun

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

  1. (now chiefly archaic, literary) Objective and reflexive case of thou. [from 8th c.]
    • 1598, William Shakespeare, Henry IV part 1, act 1, scene 2, lines 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, “Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown”, Charles Wesley (music):
      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. (now chiefly archaic, dialect) Thou. [from 12th c.]
Alternative forms
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

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, 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 also

More information personal pronoun, possessivepronoun ...

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”).

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Verb

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

  1. (intransitive, UK, obsolete) To thrive; prosper.
Derived terms

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

Etymology 4

Respelling of the popularized by Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth.

Article

thee

  1. (very rare, nonstandard) Alternative spelling of the.

Anagrams

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Dutch

Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nl

Alternative forms

Etymology

    From Hokkien 茶 (tê). The "-h-" is a faux-Greek spelling (compare Greek τσάι (tsái)); the more basal spelling tee was previously common, especially in the early modern period, but is now obsolete.

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    thee m (plural theeën, diminutive theetje n)

    1. tea
    2. (singular only, with the definite article de)
      1. tea-time, tea break, meeting in which tea is served
        Ik ga mijn nieuwe buren op de thee vragen.
        I’m going to invite my new neighbours for tea.
      2. (sports, figurative) half-time
        Tijdens de thee pepte de trainer de spelers op.
        During the half-time break the coach cheered up the players.

    Derived terms

    Descendants

    Descendants
    • Afrikaans: tee
    • Berbice Creole Dutch: tei
    • Negerhollands: thee, tee
    • → Caribbean Javanese: teh
    • → Dutch Low Saxon: thee
    • → Danish: te, the (unofficial since 1872, but still common)
      • → Faroese: te
    • → English: tea (see there for further descendants)
    • → French: thé (see there for further descendants)
    • → German: Tee (see there for further descendants)
    • → Icelandic: te
    • → Kari'na: te
    • → Latin: thea (see there for further descendants)
    • → Latvian: tēja
    • → Malayalam: തേ (tē)
    • → Norwegian: te
    • → Sinhalese: තේ (tē)
    • → Sranan Tongo: te
      • → Aukan: te
      • → Saramaccan: té
    • → Swedish: te, the, thé
      • → Finnish: tee
    • → West Frisian: tee

    Anagrams

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    Green Hmong

    Etymology

    From Thai ถ่าน (tàan) ("charcoal") or Lao ຖ່ານ (thān) ("charcoal"), ultimately from Middle Chinese 炭 (thanH) ("charcoal").

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    thee

    1. charcoal, coal

    Middle English

    Etymology 1

    Pronoun

    thee

    1. alternative form of þe (“thee”)

    Etymology 2

    Verb

    thee

    1. alternative form of theen

    Old Irish

    Adjective

    thee

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

    Scots

    Etymology 1

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

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    thee (plural thees)

    1. thigh

    Etymology 2

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

    Verb

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

    1. (archaic, literary) To thrive, prosper

    Etymology 3

    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 forms

    Pronunciation

    Pronoun

    thee (subjective case thou, reflexive thysel, possessive determiner thy)

    1. (archaic outside Orkney and Shetland) thee, you (2nd person singular object pronoun, informal)
    2. (Orkney, Shetland) thou, you (2nd person singular subject pronoun, informal)
    Usage notes
    • Regularly used throughout Scotland up until the middle of the 1800s; now only used as an archaism outside Shetland and Orkney.
    References
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    White Hmong

    Etymology

    From Thai ถ่าน (tàan) ("charcoal") or Lao ຖ່ານ (thān) ("charcoal"), ultimately from Middle Chinese 炭 (thanH) ("charcoal").

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    thee

    1. charcoal, coal

    Yola

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