thee

See also thée

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• enPR: thē, IPA: /ðiː/, X-SAMPA: /Di:/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iː
• Homophone: the (when stressed)

Etymology 1

From Middle English thee, the, 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 German Low German du (“thee”), German dir (“thee”, dative pron.), Icelandic þér (“thee”). More at thou.

Pronoun

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

1. (archaic, literary) Objective case of thou.
   • M. Le Page Du Pratz, History of Louisiana (PG), p. 40

     When our Chiefs command us, we never require the reasons: I can say nothing else to thee.

2. (Quaker, Amish, Pennsylvania Dutch English) Thou.
   • Thee is a little strange, I think.

Usage notes

When used in place of the nominative thou, thee uses the third-person singular form of verbs (see example at "quotations").

Translations

Objective case of 'thou'

• French: toi (informal and addressing one person; used after a preposition), te (informal and addressing one person; used before a verb)
• German: dich (de)
• Italian: te (informal and addressing one person; used after a preposition), ti (informal and addressing one person; used before a verb)

• Norwegian: deg (no)
• Polish: cię (pl)
• Portuguese: tu (pt)
• Spanish: te (es), ti (es)
• Swedish: dig (sv)

thou — see thou

See also

English personal pronouns

Number	Person	Gender	Subject	Objective	Reflexive	Possessive adjective	Possessive pronoun
Singular	First	—	I	me	myself	my	mine
	Second	—	you, thou (archaic)	you, thee (archaic)	yourself, thyself (archaic) theeself (archaic)	your, thy (archaic)	yours, thine (archaic)
	Third	Masculine	he	him	himself	his
		Feminine	she	her	herself	her	hers
		Neuter	it		itself	its	its (rare)
		Gender-neutral	they	them	themself	their	theirs
Plural	First	—	we	us	ourselves	our	ours
	Second	—	you, ye (archaic)	you	yourselves	your	yours
	Third	—	they	them	themselves	their	theirs
Indefinite	Third	—	one		oneself	one's	—

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-, *tenkh- (“to succeed, turn out well”). Cognate with Dutch gedijen (“to flourish, thrive, prosper, succeed”), German gedeihen (“to thrive”), Gothic  (gaþeihan, “to increase, thrive”).

Alternative forms

• the (Scotland)

Verb

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

1. (intransitive, archaic, literary, UK dialectal) To thrive; prosper.

Derived terms

• theedom

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: case · fact · known · #315: thee · hope · er · children

Etymology 3

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

Noun

thee (plural thees)

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

Related terms

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

Anagrams

• ethe

---

Dutch

Wikipedia ^nl

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -eː
• IPA: /teː/

Noun

Gevuld theeglas
Filled tea glass

thee m (plural theeën, diminutive theetje)

1. tea

Derived terms

• theeglas
• theelepel

Anagrams

• heet, hete

---

Scots

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA: /θiː/

Noun

thee (plural thees)

1. thigh