my

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See also: Appendix:Variations of "my"

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (stressed) enPR: mī IPA(key): /maɪ/
    • Audio (US)
      		(file)
  • (unstressed) IPA(key): /maɪ/, /mə/
    • (unstressed, UK) IPA(key): /mɪ/, /mi/
  • (Ireland, Scouse, some speakers) IPA(key): /mi/
  • Rhymes: -aɪ
  • Homophone: muh (some dialects)

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English mi, my, apocopated form of min, myn, from Old English mīn (“my, mine”), from Proto-West Germanic *mīn, from Proto-Germanic *mīnaz (“my, mine”, pron.) (possessive of *ek (“I”)), from Proto-Indo-European *méynos (“my; mine”).

Cognate with West Frisian myn (“my”), Afrikaans my (“my”), Dutch mijn (“my”), German mein (“my”), Swedish min (“my”). More at me.

Determiner[edit]

my

  1. First-person singular possessive determiner. See Appendix:Possessive#English.
    1. Belonging to me.
      I can't find my book.
    2. Associated with me.
      My seat at the restaurant was uncomfortable.
      Don't you know my name?
      I recognised him because he had attended my school.
    3. Related to me.
      My parents won't let me go out tonight.
    4. In the possession of me.
      I have to take my books back to the library soon.
Related terms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
See also[edit]
English personal pronouns
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'all's
you guys's
your guys's (proscribed)		 y'all's
your all's (nonstandard)
you guys's
your guys's (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[edit]

An abbreviation of an oath such as my word or my Lord

Interjection[edit]

my

  1. Used to express surprise, shock or amazement.
    My, what big teeth you have!
Derived terms[edit]

Afrikaans[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Dutch mij.

Pronoun[edit]

my (subject ek)

  1. me (object)
Alternative forms[edit]
  • mij (obsolete)
  • mijn (obsolete, rare)

See also[edit]

Afrikaans personal pronouns
subjective objective possessive determiner possessive pronoun
singular 1st ek my myne
2nd jy jou joune
2nd, formal u u s’n
3rd, masc hy hom sy syne
3rd, fem sy haar hare
3rd, neut dit sy syne
plural 1st ons ons s’n
2nd julle / jul1 julle s’n
3rd hulle / hul1 hulle s’n
1. The forms jul and hul are unstressed variants. They are used mostly in possessive function, but also otherwise, chiefly when the pronoun is repeated within the same sentence.

Etymology 2[edit]

From Dutch mijn.

Determiner[edit]

my

  1. my; of me
Alternative forms[edit]

See also[edit]

Afrikaans personal pronouns
subjective objective possessive determiner possessive pronoun
singular 1st ek my myne
2nd jy jou joune
2nd, formal u u s’n
3rd, masc hy hom sy syne
3rd, fem sy haar hare
3rd, neut dit sy syne
plural 1st ons ons s’n
2nd julle / jul1 julle s’n
3rd hulle / hul1 hulle s’n
1. The forms jul and hul are unstressed variants. They are used mostly in possessive function, but also otherwise, chiefly when the pronoun is repeated within the same sentence.

Chinese Pidgin English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From English my.

Pronoun[edit]

my

  1. I (subject pronoun)
    Synonyms: I, me
    • 1836 January, “Jargon spoken at Canton: how it originated and has grown into use; mode in which the Chinese learn English; examples of the language in common use between foreigners and Chinese”, in The Chinese Repository, volume IV, number 9, page 433:
      ‘My wanchee takee go away alla this cover, putee nother piece,’ replied I.
      (please add an English translation of this quote)
  2. me (object pronoun)
    Synonym: me
  3. my (possessive pronoun)

Cornish[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

  • (Standard Cornish) me

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Brythonic *mi, from Proto-Celtic *mī.

Pronoun[edit]

my

  1. I, me

Czech[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Slavic *my, from Proto-Indo-European *wéy

Pronunciation[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

my

  1. we

Declension[edit]

Declension
singular plural
nominative já my
genitive mě/mne nás
dative mně/mi nám
accusative mě/mne nás
vocative —
locative mně nás
instrumental mnou námi

Further reading[edit]

  • my in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
  • my in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

Danish[edit]

Noun[edit]

my n (singular definite myet, plural indefinite myer)

  1. The Greek letter μ (mu)

Declension[edit]

Declension of my
neuter
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative my myet myer myerne
genitive mys myets myers myernes

Noun[edit]

my c

  1. micron

Synonyms[edit]

References[edit]

Egyptian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

mj (“like”) +‎ -j (“adverbializing suffix”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Adverb[edit]

miii
  1. likewise
  2. accordingly

References[edit]

  • James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 86.

Lower Sorbian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Slavic *my, from Proto-Indo-European *nos

Pronoun[edit]

my pl

  1. we

Declension[edit]

Declension of the first-person pronouns
Singular Dual Plural
Nominative ja mej my
Genitive mě
(after preposition) mnjo 		naju nas
Dative mě
(after preposition) mnjo 		nama nam
Accusative mě
(after preposition) mnjo 		naju nas
Instrumental mnu nama nami
Locative mnjo nama nas
Possessive determiner mój naju naš

Manx[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Irish má, from Proto-Celtic *mā, *ma (compare Cornish and Breton mar), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂.

Conjunction[edit]

my

  1. if

Middle English[edit]

Determiner[edit]

my (subjective pronoun I)

  1. Alternative form of mi

Polish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Slavic *my, from Proto-Indo-European *me-.

Pronunciation[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

my

  1. we (first person plural )

Declension[edit]

declension of my
plural
nominative my
genitive nas
dative nam
accusative nas
instrumental nami
locative nas
vocative —

See also[edit]

Further reading[edit]

  • my in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

my

  1. Obsolete form of mim.

Slovak[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Slavic *my, from Proto-Indo-European *nos

Pronunciation[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

my

  1. we

Related terms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

  • my in Slovak dictionaries at korpus.sk

Swedish[edit]

Noun[edit]

my n

  1. The Greek letter μ (mu)

Upper Sorbian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Slavic *my, from Proto-Indo-European *nos

Pronoun[edit]

my

  1. we

Declension[edit]

Declension of the first-person pronouns
Singular Dual Plural
Nominative ja mój my
Genitive mje
(after preposition) mnje 		naju nas
Dative mi
(after preposition) mni 		namaj nam
Accusative mje
(after preposition) mnje 		naju nas
Instrumental mnu namaj nami
Locative mni namaj nas

West Frisian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Frisian mī, from Proto-Germanic *miz.

Pronunciation[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

my

  1. object of ik

Westrobothnian[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): [mýː], [mǿʏ̯ː], [mʊ́ɪ̯ː]
    Rhymes: -ýː
    (ð-dropping) Rhymes: -ýːð
    (northern í-ý merger) Rhymes: -íː

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse mý, from Proto-Germanic *mugjǭ, *mują, from Proto-Indo-European *mu (“fly”), *mew-. Cognates with Norwegian mygg, Swedish mygga, Danish myg, Old English mycg, mycge (whence Middle English mygga, English midge); Old High German mucka (German Mücke (“mosquito”)); Latvian muša; Albanian mizë; Russian му́ха (múxa); Ancient Greek μυῖα (muîa); Ukrainian му́ха (múxa); Bulgarian му́ха (múha); Lower Sorbian mucha, Polish mucha and Slovak mucha. Akin to Latin musca (“fly”). Compare the Dutch mug.

Noun[edit]

my n

  1. (collective) mosquitoes

Noun[edit]

my f

  1. mosquito

Derived terms[edit]

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