• They

    Pronunciation

    • enPR: thā, IPA: /ðeɪ/
    • Rhymes: -eɪ

    Origin

    The term was borrowed by Middle English (as they, thei) in the 1200s from Old Norse þeir, the nominative plural masculine of the demonstrative sá, which acted in Old Norse as a plural pronoun. The Norse term derives from Proto-Germanic *þai ("those"), from Proto-Indo-European *to- ("that"). It gradually replaced Old English hī and hīe ("they").

    Cognate to Old English þā ("those") (whence Modern English tho), Scots thae, thai, thay ("they; those"), Icelandic þeir ("they"), Faroese teir ("they"), Swedish de ("they"), Danish de ("they"), Norwegian de ("they"), Norwegian Nynorsk dei ("they"), and German die ("the; those", plural article and pronoun.). See also tho.

    The earliest uses of the term as a singular pronoun are from 1325 (a use of þer) and 1478 (a use of they).

    Full definition of they

    Pronoun

    they

    (personal pronoun; the third person, nominative case, usually plural, but sometimes used in the singular when the gender is unknown or irrelevantobjective case - thempossessive - theirpossessive noun - theirsreflexive plural - themselvesreflexive singular - themself)
    1. (the third-person plural) A group of people or objects previously mentioned. since the 1200sFred and Jane? They just arrived.''I have a car and a truck, but they are both broken."
    2. (the third-person singular, sometimes proscribed) A single person, previously mentioned, but of unknown or irrelevant gender. since the 1300s
      • 1594, Shakespeare, Comedy of Errors, Act IV, Scene 3:There's not a man I meet but doth salute meAs if I were their well-acquainted friend.
      • Authorized Version|Deuteronomy|17|5Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die.
      • 2008, Michelle Obama, quoted in Lisa Rogak, Michelle Obama in Her Own Words, New York, NY: PublicAffairs, 2009. ISBN 978 1 58648 762 1, page 18:One thing a nominee earns is the right to pick the vice president that they think will best reflect their vision of the country, and I am just glad I will have nothing to do with it.
    3. (indefinite pronoun, vague meaning) People; some people; someone, excluding the speaker.They say it’s a good place to live.They didn’t have computers in the old days.They should do something about this.They have a lot of snow in winter.

    Usage notes

    (singular pronoun) They began to be used as a singular pronoun in the 1300s, and has been common ever since, despite attempts by some (beginning in 1795)

    Anne Bodine, Androcentrism in Prescriptive Grammar: Singular `they', Sex-indefinite `he', and `he or she', in Language in Society, v. 4 (1975), pages 129-146 to condemn this usage as a violation of traditional (Latinate) agreement rules. See Wikipedia's article on singular they for a more in-depth discussion.

    (indefinite pronoun) One is also an indefinite pronoun, but the two words do not mean the same thing and are rarely interchangeable. "They" refers to people in general, whereas "one" refers to one person (often such that what is true for that person is true for everyone). A writer may also use "you" when talking to everyone in the audience.

    They say, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

    One may say, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

    You may say, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

    Determiner

    1. (archaic or dialectal) those (used for people)

    Anagrams

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