we

See also: Appendix:Variations of "we"

English

Etymology

From Middle English we, from Old English wē (“we”), from Proto-Germanic *wīz, *wiz (“we”), from Proto-Indo-European *wéy (“we (plural)”). Cognate with Scots wee, we (“we”), North Frisian we (“we”), West Frisian wy (“we”), Low German wi (“we”), Dutch we, wij (“we”), German wir (“we”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian vi (“we”), Icelandic vér, við (“we”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: wē, IPA^(key): /wiː/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Homophones: wee, Wii, whee (in accents with the wine-whine merger)
• Rhymes: -iː

Pronoun

we (first-person plural, nominative case, objective case us, reflexive ourselves, or, singular, ourself, possessive (with noun) our, possessive (without noun) ours)

1. (personal) The speakers/writers, or the speaker/writer and at least one other person (not the person being addressed). (This is the exclusive we.)
   • 2017 February 20, Paul Mason, “Climate scepticism is a far-right badge of honour – even in sweltering Australia”, in the Guardian‎^[1]:

     It’s time to overcome queasiness and restraint. We, the liberal and progressive people of the world, are at war with the far right to save the earth.

2. (personal) The speaker(s)/writer(s) and the person(s) being addressed. (This is the inclusive we.)
3. (personal) The speaker/writer alone. (This use of we is the editorial we, used by writers and others, including royalty—the royal we—as a less personal substitute for I. The reflexive case of this sense of we is ourself.)
4. (personal) The plural form of you, including everyone being addressed.
   • 2013 July-August, Stephen P. Lownie, David M. Pelz, “Stents to Prevent Stroke”, in American Scientist:

     As we age, the major arteries of our bodies frequently become thickened with plaque, a fatty material with an oatmeal-like consistency that builds up along the inner lining of blood vessels.

   How are we all tonight?

5. (personal, generally considered patronising) A second- or third-person pronoun for a person in the speaker's care.

   How are we feeling this morning?

Translations

the speakers, or the speaker(s) and other person(s) not being addressed (exclusive we: he or she or they and I)

• Abkhaz: ҳара (ḥārā)
• Albanian: ne (sq)
• Alviri-Vidari: جیمه‎‎ (jime)
• American Sign Language: 1^o-f@IpsiChest-FingerBack RoundHoriz 1^o-f@ContraChest-FingerBack (also inclusive and exclusive forms (not listed), as well as numeral incorporation)
• Amharic: እኛ (ʾəña)
• Ancient Greek: ἡμεῖς (hēmeîs)
• Arabic: نَحْنُ‎‎ pl (naḥnu)

  Egyptian Arabic: احنا‎‎ (ʾíḥna)

  Tunisian Arabic: أَحْنَا‎‎ m, f (ʾaḥnā)

• Aragonese: nusatros
• Aramaic:

  Hebrew: אֲנַחְנָא‎‎ (ʾănaḥnā), אֲנַן‎‎ (ʾănan)

  Syriac: ܐ̄ܢܲܚܢܲܢ‎‎ (naḥnan), ܚ̱ܢܲܢ‎‎ (ḥənan)

• Armenian: մենք (hy) (menkʿ)

  Old Armenian: մեք (mekʿ)

• Aromanian: noi
• Assamese: আমি (as) (ami)
• Asturian: nosotros (ast) m pl, nosotras (ast) f pl
• Azerbaijani: biz (az)
• Bakhtiari: ایما‎‎ (imâ)
• Bashkir: беҙ (beð)
• Basque: gu (eu)
• Bavarian: mia
• Beja: hinin
• Belarusian: мы (be) (my)
• Bengali: আমরা (amra)
• Bislama: (dual inclusive) yumitu, (trial inclusive) yumitri, (plural inclusive) yumi, (dual exclusive) mitufala, (trial exclusive) mitrifala, (plural exclusive) mifala
• Breton: ni (br)
• Bulgarian: ни́е (bg) (níe)
• Burmese: ကျုပ်တို့ (kyuptui.), တို့ (my) (tui.), ကျွန်တော်တို့ (kywantautui.) (male speaker), ကျွန်မတို့ (kywanma.tui.) (female speaker), ငါတို့ (ngatui.) (informal)
• Catalan: nosaltres (ca)
• Chamicuro: a'ti
• Chechen: вай (waj)
• Chichewa: ife
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 我哋 (ngo⁵ dei⁶)

  Dungan: вәму (vəmu)

  Mandarin: 我們 (zh), 我们 (zh) (wǒmen) (generic in most dialects, but exclusive in some)

  Min Dong: 我各儂, 我各侬 (nguāi-gáuk-nè̤ng)

  Min Nan: 阮 (zh-min-nan) (góan, gún)

  Teochew: 阮 (zh-min-nan) (ng2)

  Wu: 阿拉 (aq la, aq laq) (Shanghai)

• Chukchi: моргынан (morgynan)
• Chuvash: эпир (epir)
• Classical Nahuatl: tehhuān, tehhuāntin
• Cree: kiyanaw (kiyanaw)
• Czech: my (cs)
• Dalmatian: nu
• Danish: vi (da)
• Dutch: wij (nl), we (nl)
• Dyirbal: ŋaliɖi du, ŋanaɖi pl
• Efik: nnyin
• Esperanto: ni (eo)
• Estonian: meie (et), me (et)
• Extremaduran: nusotrus
• Fijian: (dual) ^{(please verify)} keirau, (paucal) ^{(please verify)} keitou, ^{(please verify)} keimami pl
• Finnish: me (fi)
• French: (1,2) nous (fr) (formal), on (fr) (informal)

  Old French: nos

• Friulian: nô, noaltris
• Galician: nós (gl) m pl, f pl
• Georgian: ჩვენ (čven)
• German: wir (de)

  Alemannic German: mir

• Greek: εμείς (el) (emeís) (emeís)
• Gurani: ئێمە‎‎ (êmæ)
• Hausa: (independent form) ^{(please verify)} múu, (perfective 1) ^{(please verify)} mún, (perfective 2) ^{(please verify)} múkà, (neg. perfective) ^{(please verify)} bàmù...bá, (future) ^{(please verify)} záamù, (predictive) ^{(please verify)} mâa, (habitual) ^{(please verify)} múkàn, (subjunctive) ^{(please verify)} mù, (continuous 1) ^{(please verify)} múnàa, (continuous 2) ^{(please verify)} múkè(e), (neg. continuous) ^{(please verify)} báamàa
• Hawaiian: (dual) māua, mākou pl
• Hebrew: אֲנַחְנוּ‎‎ (he) (anákhnu), אָנוּ‎‎ (he) (ánu)
• Hindi: हम (hi) (ham)
• Hopi: itam
• Hungarian: mi (hu)
• Icelandic: við (is)
• Ido: ni (io)
• Indonesian: kami (id)
• Interlingua: nos
• Irish: muid (conjunctive), sinn (disjunctive), muidne, sinne (emphatic)

  Old Irish: sní

• Istriot: nu
• Italian: noi (it), noialtri
• Japanese: 私達 (ja) (わたしたち, watashitachi), 我ら (われら, warera), 我々 (ja) (われわれ, wareware), 僕ら (ぼくら, bokura), (mainly vulgar/informal) 俺達 (おれたち, oretachi), (dialect) 俺等 (おいら, oira), うち (ja) (uchi), 僕達 (ぼくたち, bokutachi), 私ども (わたしども, watashidomo)
• Kalmyk: бидн (bidn)
• Kannada: ನಾವು (kn) (nāvu)
• Kashubian: më
• Kazakh: біз (kk) (biz)

• Khmer: យើង (km) (yəəng)
• Korean: 우리 (ko) (uri), 저희 (ko) (jeohui) (humble)
• Kurdish: em (ku), me (ku)
• Kyrgyz: биз (ky) (biz)
• Ladino: mozotros, מוזוטרוס‎‎
• Lao: ພວກເຮົາ (phūak hao)
• Latgalian: mes
• Latin: nōs (la)
• Latvian: mēs (lv)
• Lithuanian: mes (lt)
• Low German: wi (nds)
• Macedonian: ние (nie)
• Malay: kami (ms)
• Manchu: [script needed] (be)
• Manx: mayd, shin, emphatic shinyn
• Maori: māua du, mātou pl
• Mazanderani: اما‎‎ (amâ)
• Mon: ပိုဲ (poi)
• Mongolian: бид (mn) (bid)
• Navajo: nihí duoplural, danihí pl
• Neapolitan: nuje
• Nepali: हामी (ne) (hāmī)
• Ngarrindjeri: ngurn
• Northern Sami: ^{(please verify)} moai dual, ^{(please verify)} mii pl
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: vi (no)

  Nynorsk: me (nn), vi

• Novial: (1,2) nus
• Occitan: nos, nosautres (oc)
• Ojibwe: niinawind
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: мꙑ (my)

• Old East Slavic: мꙑ (my)
• Old English: (dual) wit (ang), wē (ang) pl
• Old Turkic: 𐰋𐰃𐰕‎‎ (biz)
• Pashto: موږ‎‎ (muẓ̌), مونږ‎‎ (mung)
• Persian: ما‎‎ (fa) (mâ)
• Pipil: tejemet, tehemet
• Polish: my (pl)
• Portuguese: nós (pt), a gente (pt) (informal)
• Quechua: ñuqayku (qu), ñogaiku, nogakuna
• Rapa Nui: maua (dual), matou (plural)
• Romanian: noi (ro)
• Romansch: nus, nous
• Russian: мы (ru) (my)
• Rusyn: мы (mŷ)
• Sardinian: nois, noso, nosu
• Scottish Gaelic: sinn (nonemphatic), sinne (emphatic)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: mi

  Roman: ми

• Sicilian: nuàutri (scn), nui
• Sinhalese: අපි (si) (api)
• Slovak: my
• Slovene: mí (sl) m, mé f, n
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: my

• Southern Altai: бис (bis)
• Spanish: nosotros (es) m, nosotras (es) f
• Svan: please add this translation if you can
• Swahili: sisi
• Swedish: vi (sv)
• Tagalog: (ng form) ^{(please verify)} namin, (sa form) ^{(please verify)} amin (tl), (unmarked form) ^{(please verify)} kami (tl)
• Tajik: мо (tg) (mo)
• Tamil: நாங்கள் (ta) (nāṅkaḷ)
• Taos: ną
• Tatar: без (tt) (bez)
• Telugu: మేము (te) (mēmu)
• Thai: เรา (th) (rao)
• Tibetan: ང་ཐསོ (nga thso)
• Tigrinya: ንሕና (nəḥna)
• Tlingit: uháan
• Tok Pisin: mipela, mitupela (dual)
• Turkish: biz (tr)
• Turkmen: biz (tk)
• Udihe: бу (bu)
• Ukrainian: ми (uk) (my)
• Urdu: ہم‎‎ (ham)
• Uyghur: بىز‎‎ (ug) (biz)
• Uzbek: biz (uz)
• Venetian: noaltri (vec), noantri, nualtri, naltri
• Vietnamese: chúng tôi (vi) (exclusive), chúng ta (vi) (inclusive)
• Volapük: obs (vo)
• Welsh: ni, (emphatic) ninnau
• West Frisian: wy (fy)
• Wolof: nun
• Yagnobi: мох
• Yiddish: מיר‎‎ (mir)
• Zazaki: ma
• Zhuang: coiq
• Zulu: thina
• ǃXóõ: īh, (emphatic) īhʻī, īsî, (emphatic) īsîʻī

the speaker(s) and the listener(s) (inclusive we: you and I)

• Arabic: نَحْنُ‎‎ pl (naḥnu)
• Bislama: ^{(please verify)} yumi, (dual) ^{(please verify)} yumitupela, (trial) ^{(please verify)} yumitripela, ^{(please verify)} yumipela pl
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 咱們 (zh), 咱们 (zh) (zánmen)

  Min Nan: 咱 (zh-min-nan) (lán), 咱人 (zh-min-nan) (lán-lâng)

  Teochew: 俺 (zh-min-nan) (nang2˨)

• Fijian: (dual) ^{(please verify)} kedaru, (paucal) ^{(please verify)} kedatou, ^{(please verify)} keda pl
• Hawaiian: (inclusive) kāua du, kākou pl; (exclusive) māua du, mākou pl
• Indonesian: kita (id)
• Kannada: ನಾವು (kn) (nāvu)
• Latvian: mēs (lv)
• Malay: kita (ms)
• Manchu: ᠮᡠᠰᡝ (muse)

• Maori: tāua du, tātou pl
• Ojibwe: giinawind
• Quechua: ñuqanchik (qu)
• Rapa Nui: taua (dual), tatou (plural)
• Tagalog: (ng form) ^{(please verify)} natin, (sa form) ^{(please verify)} atin (tl), (unmarked form) ^{(please verify)} tayo (tl)
• Tamil: நாம் (ta) (nām), யாம் (ta) (yām)
• Telugu: మనము (te) (manamu)
• Tok Pisin: yumi, yumipela
• Udihe: минти (minti)
• Venetian: noi doi
• Vietnamese: chúng ta (vi)
• Wolof: nun

Determiner

we

1. The speakers/writers, or the speaker/writer and at least one other person.

   We Canadians like to think of ourselves as different.

Anagrams

• EW, ew

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Caac

Determiner

we

1. water

   kô-ny we

   'my (glass/drink of) water'

References

• A Study of Space in Caac, an Oceanic Language

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Chuukese

Determiner

we (plural kewe)

1. (possessive subject marker) the (singular)

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Dadibi

Noun

wẹ

1. water

Synonyms

• ạị

References

• Karl J. Franklin, Comparative Wordlist 1 of the Gulf District and adjacent areas (1975), page 67
• Karl James Franklin, Pacific Linguistics (1973, →ISBN, page 130: Polopa so/sou woman, cf. DAR sou female animal but we woman. Several multiple cognate sets appeared in the data. Daribi uses both ạị and wẹ for water; some Polopa speakers gave one term, some another. Both are probably known everywhere.

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Dutch

Etymology

See wij.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʋə/

• Audio

  (file)

Pronoun

we (personal pronoun)

1. we

Inflection

Dutch personal pronouns

	subject		object		possessive			reflexive	genitive5
singular	full	unstr.	full	unstr.	full	unstr.	pred.
1st person	ik	'k1	mij	me	mijn	m'n1	mijne	me	mijner
2nd person	jij	je	jou	je	jouw	je	jouwe	je	jouwer
2nd person archaic or regiolectal	gij	ge	u	–	uw	–	uwe	u	uwer
2nd person formal	u	–	u	–	uw	–	uwe	zich	uwer
3rd person masculine	hij	ie1	hem	'm1	zijn	z'n1	zijne	zich	zijner
3rd person feminine	zij	ze	haar	h'r1, 'r1, d'r1	haar	h'r1, 'r1, d'r1	hare	zich	harer
3rd person neuter	het	't1	het	't1	zijn	z'n1	zijne	zich	zijner
plural
1st person	wij	we	ons	–	ons, onze2	–	onze	ons	onzer
2nd person	jullie	je	jullie	je	jullie	je	–	je	–
2nd person archaic or regiolectal6	gij	ge	u	–	uw	–	uwe	u	uwer
2nd person formal	u	–	u	–	uw	–	uwe	zich	uwer
3rd person	zij	ze	hen3, hun4	ze	hun	–	hunne	zich	hunner
1) Not as common in written language. 2) Inflected as an adjective. 3) In prescriptivist use, used only as direct object (accusative). 4) In prescriptivist use, used only as indirect object (dative).				5) Archaic. Nowadays used for formal, literary or poetic purposes, and in fixed expressions. 6) To differentiate from the singular gij, and in a similar vein to "you lot" or "you guys" in English, it is common to use gijlui ("you people") or gijlieden ("you people") or one of their contracted variants, and their corresponding objects, possessives and reflexives, in the plural.

Synonyms

• wij

See also

• ons

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Fwâi

we

Etymology

From Proto-Oceanic *waiʀ, from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

Noun

we

1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

References

• André-Georges Haudricourt, Françoise Ozanne-Rivierre, Dictionnaire thématique des langues de la région de Hienghène (1982)

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Galoli

Noun

we

1. (Talur) water

References

• Bryan Hinton, The languages of Wetar, in Spices from the east: Papers in languages of eastern Indonesia (2000), page 121

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Haeke

Etymology

From Proto-Oceanic *waiʀ, from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

Noun

we

1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

References

• Jean Claude Rivierre, Sabine Ehrhart, Raymond Diéla, Le Bwatoo: et les dialectes de la région de Koné (2006)

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Haveke

Etymology

From Proto-Oceanic *waiʀ, from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

Noun

we

1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

References

• Jean Claude Rivierre, Sabine Ehrhart, Raymond Diéla, Le Bwatoo: et les dialectes de la région de Koné (2006)

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Ido

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /we/, /wɛ/

Noun

we (plural we-i)

1. The name of the Latin script letter W/w.

See also

• (Latin script letter names) litero; a, be, ce, che, de, e, fe, ge, he, i, je, ke, le, me, ne, o, pe, que, re, se, she, te, u, ve, we, xe, ye, ze

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Japanese

Romanization

we

1. Rōmaji transcription of ゑ
2. Rōmaji transcription of ヱ
3. Rōmaji transcription of うぇ
4. Rōmaji transcription of ウェ

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Jawe

Etymology

From Proto-Oceanic *waiʀ, from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

Noun

we

1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

References

• André-Georges Haudricourt, Françoise Ozanne-Rivierre, Dictionnaire thématique des langues de la région de Hienghène (1982)

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Lamboya

Noun

we

1. water

References

• ABVD
• Blust's Austronesian Comparative Dictionary

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Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wɛ/

Preposition

we (with locative)

1. Alternative form of w (especially before labial consonants and consonant clusters)

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Mapudungun

Adjective

we (using Raguileo Alphabet)

1. new, recent

References

• Wixaleyiñ: Mapucezugun-wigkazugun pici hemvlcijka (Wixaleyiñ: Small Mapudungun-Spanish dictionary), Beretta, Marta; Cañumil, Dario; Cañumil, Tulio, 2008.

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Middle Low German

Pronunciation

• Certainly: Stem vowel: ê⁴
  • (originally) IPA^(key): /weː/

Etymology 1

From Old Saxon hwē, from Proto-Germanic *hwaz.

Pronoun

wê (accusative wēne or wen, dative wēme or wem, genitive wes)

1. (interrogative, masculine, feminine) who

Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *wiz.

Pronoun

wê

1. (personal, first person, plural, nominative) Alternative form of wî.

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Nedebang

Noun

we

1. blood

References

• Gary Holton and Laura Robinson, The Internal History of the Alor-Pantar language family, in The Alor-Pantar languages: History and Typology, edited by Marian Klamer
• transnewguinea.org (wæ), ASJP 1 (wE i.e. wɛ), ASJP 2 (we)

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Nemi

Etymology

From Proto-Oceanic *waiʀ, from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

Noun

we

1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

References

• André-Georges Haudricourt, Françoise Ozanne-Rivierre, Dictionnaire thématique des langues de la région de Hienghène (1982)

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North Ambrym

Etymology

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

Noun

we

1. water

Further reading

• Darrell T. Tryon, New Hebrides languages: an internal classification (1976)
• George William Grace, The position of the Polynesian languages within the Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) language family (1959)

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Nyâlayu

Etymology

From Proto-Oceanic *waiʀ, from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

Noun

we

1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

References

• Jim Hollyman, K. J. Hollyman, Études sur les langues du Nord de la Nouvelle-Calédonie (1991), page 81

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Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *wiz, *wīz, from Proto-Indo-European *wéy-, plural of *éǵh₂. Cognate with Old Frisian wī (West Frisian wy), Old Saxon wī (Low German wi), Old Dutch wī (Dutch wij), Old High German wir (German wir), Old Norse vér (Danish and Swedish vi), Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍃 (weis).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /weː/

Pronoun

wē (personal pronoun)

1. we (nominative plural form of iċ)

Descendants

• Middle English: we
  • English: we

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Pije

Etymology

From Proto-Oceanic *waiʀ, from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

Noun

we

1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

References

• André-Georges Haudricourt, Françoise Ozanne-Rivierre, Dictionnaire thématique des langues de la région de Hienghène (1982)

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Polish

Alternative forms

• w

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *vъ(n), from Proto-Indo-European *én

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɛ/

• Audio

  (file)

Preposition

we (before words that begin with awkward consonant clusters)

1. (+ locative) in
2. (+ accusative) into, in

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Spanish

Etymology

Variant of güey, representing the relaxed pronunciation of the /gw/ sounds and in some cases loss of the /i/ sound.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /we/

Noun

we m, f (plural wees)

1. (colloquial) dude, guy, buddy
2. (Mexico, colloquial slang) chump, punk, dumbass, idiot, jerk

Synonyms

• carnal
• cuate
• tonto
• bato

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Tocharian A

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁. Compare also wu.

Numeral

we f

1. (cardinal) two

Related terms

• wu

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Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English where.

Adverb

we

1. where
   • 1989, Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Bible Society of Papua New Guinea, Genesis 3:9 (translation here):

     Tasol God, Bikpela i singaut long man na i tok, “Yu stap we?”

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Turkmen

Noun

we (definite accusative ?, plural ?)

1. The name of the Latin-script letter W/w.

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Welsh

Noun

we

1. Soft mutation of gwe.

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Yuaga

Etymology

From Proto-Oceanic *waiʀ, from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

Noun

we

1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

References

• Jim Hollyman, K. J. Hollyman, Études sur les langues du Nord de la Nouvelle-Calédonie (1999), page 81

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Zulu

Pronoun

-we

1. Combining stem of wena.