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Wiktionary

thee

See also: Thee, thée, and the'e

English

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Etymology 1

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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.

Pronunciation

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Pronoun

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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
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Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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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

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English personal pronouns
Dialectal and obsolete or archaic forms are in italics.
personal pronoun possessive
pronoun		 possessive
determiner
subjective objective reflexive
first person singular I
me (colloquial)		 me myself
me
mysen		 mine my
mine (before vowels, archaic)
me
plural we us ourselves
ourself
oursen		 ours our
second person singular standard, formal you you yourself
yoursen		 yours
yourn (obsolete outside dialects)		 your
archaic, informal thou thee thyself
theeself
thysen		 thine thy
thine (before vowels)
plural standard you
ye (archaic)		 you yourselves yours
yourn (obsolete outside dialects)		 your
colloquial you all
y'all
you guys		 you all
y'all
you guys		 y'allselves y'all's
you guys'
your guys' (proscribed)		 y'all's
your all's (nonstandard)
you guys'
your guys' (proscribed)
informal / dialectal (see list of dialectal forms at you and inflected forms in those entries)
third person singular masculine he him himself
hisself (archaic)
hissen		 his
hisn (obsolete outside dialects)		 his
feminine she her herself
hersen		 hers
hern (obsolete outside dialects)		 her
neuter it
hit		 it
hit		 itself
hitself		 its
his (archaic)		 its
his (archaic)
hits
genderless they them themself, themselves theirs their
genderless, nonspecific
(formal) 		one one oneself – one's
plural they them
hem, 'em		 themselves
theirsen		 theirs
theirn (obsolete outside dialects)		 their

Etymology 2

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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

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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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
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Etymology 3

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

Noun

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thee (plural thees)

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

Etymology 4

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Respelling of the popularized by Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth.

Article

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thee

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

Anagrams

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Dutch

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Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nl

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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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

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Noun

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thee m (plural theeën, diminutive theetje n)

 
Gevuld theeglas
Filled tea glass
  1. tea

Derived terms

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Descendants

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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
  • → Norwegian: te
  • → Sranan Tongo: te
    • → Aukan: te
    • → Saramaccan: té
  • → Swedish: te, the, thé
    • → Finnish: tee
  • → West Frisian: tee

Anagrams

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Green Hmong

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Noun

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thee

  1. charcoal, coal

Middle English

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Etymology 1

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Pronoun

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thee

  1. Alternative form of þe (“thee”)

Etymology 2

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Verb

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thee

  1. Alternative form of theen

Old Irish

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Adjective

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thee

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

Scots

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Etymology 1

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

Pronunciation

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Noun

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thee (plural thees)

  1. thigh

Etymology 2

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

Verb

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

  1. (archaic, literary) To thrive, prosper

Etymology 3

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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

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Pronunciation

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Pronoun

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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
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  • 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

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Noun

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thee

  1. charcoal, coal

Yola

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English þe, from Old English þē.

Pronoun

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thee

  1. thee[1]
    • 1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 40:
      Fho told thee?
      Who told thee?
    • 1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 78:
      Whileen to thee.
      That you may be upset.
    • 1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 1, page 84:
      Fade teil thee zo lournagh, co Joane, zo knaggee?
      What ails you so melancholy, quoth John, so cross?
    • 1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 2, page 84:
      Well, gosp, c'hull be zeid; mot thee fartoo, an fade;
      Well, gossip, it shall be told; you ask what ails me, and for what;
    • 1867, “VERSES IN ANSWER TO THE WEDDEEN O BALLYMORE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 2, page 100:
      Craneen t' thee wee aam, thee luggès shell aake.
      Choking to thee with them. Thy ears shall ache.
    • 1867, “VERSES IN ANSWER TO THE WEDDEEN O BALLYMORE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 3, page 100:
      Heal, griue, an kin, apaa thee, graacuse Forth,
      Health, wealth, and regard upon thee, gracious Forth,

Etymology 2

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From Middle English þi, apocopated variant of þin, from Old English þīn, from Proto-West Germanic *þīn.

Alternative forms

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Determiner

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thee

  1. thy, your[1]
    • 1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 31:
      Coome to thee met; Coome thee wyse.
      Come to thy meat; Come thy ways.
    • 1867, “VERSES IN ANSWER TO THE WEDDEEN O BALLYMORE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 2, page 100:
      Craneen t' thee wee aam, thee luggès shell aake.
      Choking to thee with them. Thy ears shall ache.
    • 1867, “VERSES IN ANSWER TO THE WEDDEEN O BALLYMORE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 3, page 100:
      Mye thee friend ne're waant welcome, nor straayart comfoort.
      May thy friend ne'er want welcome, nor the stranger comfort.
Derived terms
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Etymology 3

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Pronoun

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thee

  1. thou
    • 1927, “LAMENT OF A WIDOW”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 130, lines 4[2]:
      Ochone! Jone, thee yart deed.
      Ochone, John, you are dead.
    • 1927, “YOLA ZONG O BARONY VORTH”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 132, lines 9[2]:
      Co Sooney, "Billeen dowst thee zee faads lewer,
      Says Alice "Billy, do you see what's yonder?"
Derived terms
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References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) 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, published 1867
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Kathleen A. Browne (1927) The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland Sixth Series, Vol.17 No.2, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland
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