thou

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English [edit]

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Etymology 1 [edit]

From Middle English thou, thow, thu, þou, from Old English þū, from Proto-Germanic *þū, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂. Akin to Old Frisian thū (West Frisian do), Old Saxon thū (Low German du), Old Dutch thū (Middle Dutch du, Limburgish doe), Old High German dū (German du), Old Norse þú, (Icelandic þú, Danish du, Norwegian du, Swedish du), Latin tu, Ancient Greek σύ (sý) (Modern Greek εσύ (esý)).

Pronunciation [edit]

Alternative forms [edit]

Pronoun [edit]

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thou (second-person singular nominative case , plural ye or you, objective case thee, reflexive thyself, possessive determiner 'thy ('thine before a vowel), possessive pronoun thine)

  1. (archaic, literary, or dialectal) you singular informal, nominative case
Usage notes [edit]
  • Thou is used with the archaic second-person singular of verbs, which usually ends in -est, as in, for example, “Lovest thou me?” Irregular forms include: art (of be), hast (of have), shalt (of shall), wost (of wit), and wilt (of will).
Derived terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
singular informal form of "you"
See also [edit]
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 —

Verb [edit]

thou (third-person singular simple present thous, present participle thouing, simple past and past participle thoued)

  1. (transitive) To address (a person) using the pronoun thou, especially as an expression of familiarity or contempt.
    • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, ‘On the City Wall’, In Black and White, Folio Society 2005, p. 443:
      "One service more, Sahib, since thou hast come so opportunely," said Lalun. "Wilt thou" – it is very nice to be thou-ed by Lalun – "take this old man across the City [...] to the Kumharsen Gate?"
    I thou thee, thou traitor! (Edward Coke to Walter Raleigh)
    Don't thou them as thous thee! (Yorkshire English admonition to overly familiar children)
  2. (intransitive) To use the word thou.
Translations [edit]
to address someone using the pronoun thou
to use the word thou

Etymology 2 [edit]

Shortened from thousandth.

Pronunciation [edit]

Noun [edit]

thou (plural thous)

  1. (dated UK) A unit of length equal to one-thousandth of an inch.
Synonyms [edit]

Etymology 3 [edit]

Shortened from thousand.

Pronunciation [edit]

Noun [edit]

thou (plural thou)

  1. (slang) A thousand, especially a thousand dollars, a thousand pounds sterling, etc.

Statistics [edit]

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