we

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/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /wi/

• 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:

     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?

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

Determiner

we

1. water

   kô-ny we

   'my (glass/drink of) water'

References

• A Study of Space in Caac, an Oceanic Language

Determiner

we (plural kewe)

1. (possessive subject marker) the (singular)

Noun

wẹ

1. water

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.

Etymology

See wij.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʋə/

• Audio

  (file)

Pronoun

we (personal pronoun)

1. 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)

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

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /we/

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)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /we/

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)

Noun

we

1. water

References

• Greenhill, S.J., Blust. R, & Gray, R.D. (2008). The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics. Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4:271-283.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /we/, /wɛ/

Noun

we (plural we-i)

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

Romanization

we

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

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)

Noun

we

1. water

References

• ABVD
• Blust's Austronesian Comparative Dictionary

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wɛ/

Preposition

we (with locative)

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

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.

Alternative forms

• whe, ve, woe, wue, weo, wæ, hwe, vue, huue

Etymology

from Old English wē (“we”), from Proto-Germanic *wīz, *wiz (“we”), from Proto-Indo-European *wéy (“we (plural)”).

Pronoun

we (accusative us, we, genitive oure, possessive determiner oures)

1. First-person plural pronoun: we
2. First-person plural accusative pronoun: us

References

• “we (pron.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 10 May 2018.

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.

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)

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)

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)

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

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)

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)

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

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

Etymology

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

Numeral

we f

1. (cardinal) two

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?”

Etymology 1

Etymology 2

Noun

we

1. water

References

• Greenhill, S.J., Blust. R, & Gray, R.D. (2008). The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics. Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4:271-283.

Noun

we

1. Soft mutation of gwe.

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

Pronoun

-we

1. Combining stem of wena.