ich

See also: Ich and ICH

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English ich, from Old English iċ (“I”, pronoun), from Proto-Germanic *ek (“I”, pronoun), from Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂ (“I”). See also ch-, I.

Alternative forms

• Iche, che, 'ch-, ch-

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /itʃ/, /ɪtʃ/

Pronoun

ich

1. (personal, obsolete) I.
   • 1529, John Skelton, Elynour Rummyng:

     "Behold," she sayd, "and se How bright I am of ble! Ich am not cast away, That can my husband say, [...]"

   • 1561, John Awdelay, The fraternitye of vacabondes:

     My maysters, ich am an old man, and halfe blinde, [...]

   • 1568, Thomas Howell, Arbor of Amitie:

     With cap and knee, ich will serve thee, what should ich more declare.

   • 1645, Thomas Davies, The Somersetshire Man's Complaint:

     Dost thinke 'chill labor to be poore, No no, ich haue a-doe..Ich will a plundering too.

   • 1706, Edward Phillips, The New World of English Words:

     Ich, a Word us'd for I in the Western Parts of England.

Usage notes

Ich was the form of I found in the dialects of the West Country, West Midlands, and Kent. It began to disappear from written English with the onset of the Chancery Standard in the 15th century, yet continued to see limited use through the middle of the 19th century.

The Northern dialectal form, ik (which derives from the same Old English root), likewise disappeared from writing with the onset of the Chancery Standard in the 15th century.

Derived terms

• nich

Etymology 2

Clipping of ichthyophthiriasis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪk/

Noun

ich (uncountable)

1. (ichthyology) Ichthyophthiriasis, a parasitic infection of freshwater fish caused by the ciliate Ichthyophthirius.
   • 1996, Edward J. Noga, Fish Disease: Diagnosis and Treatment, Iowa State University Press (2000), ISBN 0-8138-2558-X, page 95:

     Ich is one of the most common diseases of freshwater fish.

Anagrams

• chi, CIH, HCI, hic

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Crimean Gothic

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *ik, from Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂.

Pronoun

ich

1. I
   • 1562, Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq:

     Ich malthata. Ego dico.

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German

Etymology

From Middle High German ich, from Old High German ih, from Proto-Germanic *ek, *ik, from Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪç/

• audio

  (file)

• Audio (Austria)

  (file)

Pronoun

ich

1. I

Inflection

German personal pronouns

		nominative	accusative	genitive	dative	possessive
1st person singular		ich	mich	meiner	mir	mein
2nd person singular	familiar	du	dich	deiner	dir	dein
	polite (also plural)	Sie		Ihrer	Ihnen	Ihr
	polite (archaic; also plural)	Ihr	Euch	Euer	Euch	Euer
3rd person singular	m	er	ihn	seiner	ihm	sein
	f	sie		ihrer	ihr
	n	es		seiner	ihm	sein
1st person plural		wir	uns	unser	uns	unser
2nd person plural familiar		ihr	euch	euer	euch	euer
3rd person plural		sie		ihrer	ihnen	ihr

In contemporary German, the genitive forms of personal pronouns are restricted to formal style and are unfrequent even there. They may be used

• for the genitive object still found in a handful of verbs: Er erbarmte sich meiner. – "He had mercy on me". (Colloquially one would either use the dative case, or a prepositional object, or replace the verb with another.)
• after the preposition statt ("instead of, in place of"): Er kam statt meiner in die Mannschaft. – "He joined the team in my place." This sounds antiquated, and an meiner Statt or an meiner Stelle is preferable. Note: meiner here is not a genitive, but a form of the possessive determiner mein.

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Limburgish

Alternative forms

• iech, ik

Etymology

From Old High German ih, from Proto-Germanic *ek, *ik.

Pronunciation

• (most dialects) IPA^(key): [ɪx]
• (Maastrict) IPA^(key): [ix]

Pronoun

ich

1. (personal) I.

Inflection

	Singular	Dual	Plural
nominative	ich, 'ch	weet	weer, v'r
genitive	miener, miens	ózzer	ózzer
locative	miches	ózzes	ózzes
vocative	—	—	—
dative	mir	ós	ós
accusative¹	mich	ós	ós

• Dative is nowadays obsolete, use accusative instead.

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Luo

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪ̀c/

Noun

ich

1. stomach

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Middle English

Etymology

From Old English iċ (“I”, pronoun), from Proto-Germanic *ek (“I”, pronoun), from Proto-Indo-European *egom (“I”), *éǵh₂.

Pronoun

ich

1. The Southern and sometimes Midland dialectic form of I, in Early English, corresponding to ik of the Northern dialect.

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Middle High German

Etymology

From Old High German ih, from Proto-Germanic *ek, *ik.

Pronoun

ich

1. (personal) I

Declension

declension of ich

	singular	plural
nominative	ich	wir
accusative	mich	unsich, uns
genitive	mîn	unser
dative	mir	uns

Descendants

• German: ich

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Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ix]

• Audio

  (file)

Pronoun

ich

1. genitive of oni; them
2. personal masculine accusative of oni; them

See also

• nich

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Slovak

Pronoun

ich

(The genitive plural and accusative plural of on (he), ona (she), and one (it).)

1. (possessive) their, theirs
2. them

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Yucatec Maya

Noun

ich (plural icho’ob)

1. (anatomy) eye
2. face
3. fruit