We

Pronunciation

• UK enPR: wÄ“, IPA: /wiː/
• US enPR: wÄ“, IPA: /wi/
• Homophones: wee, whee in accents with the wine-whine merger
• Rhymes: -iː

Origin

From Middle English, 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").

Full definition of we

Pronoun

1. (personal) The speakers/writers, or the speaker/writer and at least one other person.
2. (personal) The speaker/writer alone. (The use of we in the singular 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.)
3. (personal) Plural form of you, including everyone being addressed.
• 2013, Stephen P. Lownie, David M. Pelz, Stents to Prevent Stroke, 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.
4. How are we all tonight?

Usage notes

The meaning of you, plural is generally restricted to specific contexts such as where a server is addressing a table of guests in a restaurant.

Determiner

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