dig
Contents |
[edit] English
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Etymology 1
Middle English diggen (“to dig”), alteration (possibly due to Danish dige) of Old English dīcian (“to dig a ditch, to mound up earth”) (compare Old English dīcere (“digger”)) from dīc, dīċ "dike, ditch" from Proto-Germanic *dīkaz, *dīkijan (“pool, puddle”), from Proto-Indo-European *dhīgw-, *dheigw- (“to stab, dig”). Akin to Danish dige "to dig, raise a dike", Swedish dika "to dig ditches". Related to, but not derived from Middle French diguer (“to dig”), itself a borrowing of the same Germanic root (from Middle Dutch dijk), as the Middle French word appears later than the Middle English word. More at ditch, dike.
[edit] Verb
dig (third-person singular simple present digs, present participle digging, simple past and past participle dug)
- To move hard-packed earth out of the way, especially downward to make a hole with a shovel. Or to drill etc. through rocks, roads, etc.
- They dug an eight foot deep ditch along the side of the road.
- In the wintertime, heavy truck tires dig into the road, forming potholes.
- If the plane can't pull out of the dive it is in, it'll dig a hole in the ground.
- (with "into") To research a particular subject.
- She is going to dig into Egyptian basket-weaving this semester.
[edit] Derived terms
[edit] Translations
|
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
[edit] Noun
dig (plural digs)
- An archeological investigation
- See digs
[edit] Synonyms
[edit] Translations
[edit] Etymology 2
From African American Vernacular English; due to lack of writing of slave speech, etymology is difficult to trace, but it has been suggested that it is from Wolof dëgg, dëgga (“to understand, to appreciate”).[1] It has also been suggested that it is from Irish dtuig.[2] Others do not propose a distinct etymology, instead considering this a semantic shift of the existing English term.[3]
[edit] Verb
dig (third-person singular simple present digs, present participle digging, simple past and past participle dug)
- (slang) To understand or show interest in.
- You dig?
- (slang) To appreciate, or like.
- Baby, I dig you.
[edit] References
- ^ Smitherman, Geneva (2000), Black Talk: Words and Phrases from the Hood to the Amen Corner (revised ed.), Boston: Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 0-395-96919-0
- ^ Random House Unabridged, 2001
- ^ eg: OED, "dig", from ME vt diggen
[edit] Anagrams
[edit] Danish
[edit] Pronoun
dig (nominative du)
- (personal) you (2nd person singular object pronoun, informal)
[edit] Usage notes
Also used as reflexive pronoun.
[edit] See also
| Number | Person | Inflection | Nominative | Accusative | Possessive | Reflexive | Reflexive possessive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | First | common | jeg | mig | min | ||
| neuter | mit | ||||||
| plural | mine | ||||||
| Second | common | du | dig | din | |||
| neuter | dit | ||||||
| plural | dine | ||||||
| polite form | De | Dem | Deres | ||||
| Third | masculine | han | ham | hans | sig | sin | |
| feminine | hun | hende | hendes | ||||
| common | den | den | dens | ||||
| neuter | det | det | dets | sit | |||
| plural | sine | ||||||
| Plural | First | — | vi | os | vores | ||
| common | vor | ||||||
| neuter | vort | ||||||
| plural | vore | ||||||
| Second | – | I | jer | jeres | |||
| polite form | De | Dem | Deres | ||||
| Third | – | de | dem | deres | sig | ||
[edit] Swedish
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Alternative forms
- dej (strongly colloquial)
[edit] Pronoun
dig
- you (objective case, singular)
- Jag såg dig aldrig där
- I never saw you there
- Jag såg dig aldrig där
- reflexive case of du; compare yourself
- Skulle du vilja lära dig jonglera?
- Would you like to learn how to juggle?
- Skar du dig på kniven?
- Did you cut yourself on the knife?
- Skulle du vilja lära dig jonglera?
[edit] See also
[edit] Usage notes
Note that some verbs have special senses when used reflexively. For example, do not confuse du lär dig att... ("you learn to...") [reflexive] with jag lär dig att... ("I teach you to...") or du lär dig själv att... ("you teach yourself to..."). Here, lär means teach(es) if it is not reflexive, but learn(s) if it is reflexive. Thus, the the separate pronoun "dig själv" is needed when object and subject agree, even though the verb should not be used in the reflexive case.
Also note that in the imperative, when there's usually no explicit subject given, the "själv" is dropped.
[edit] Declension
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from Germanic languages
- English verbs
- English nouns
- English terms derived from Wolof
- English terms derived from Irish
- English slang
- English irregular verbs
- Danish pronouns
- Swedish pronouns