ye

See also: Appendix:Variations of "ye" and үе

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English ye, ȝe, from Old English ġē (“ye”), the nominative case of the second-person plural personal pronoun, from West Germanic *jīz, variant of Proto-Germanic *jūz (“ye”), from Proto-Indo-European *yūs (“ye”), *yū́, plural of *túh₂. Cognate with Scots ye (“ye”), Dutch gij, jij, je (“ye”), Low German ji, jie (“ye”), German ihr (“ye”), Danish and Swedish I (“ye”), Icelandic ér (“ye”). See also you.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Pronoun

ye (personal pronoun)

  1. (archaic outside Northern England, Cornwall, Ireland) You (the people being addressed).
Usage notes

Ye was originally used only for the nominative case (as the subject), and only for the second-person plural. Later, ye was used as a subject or an object, either singular or plural, which is the way that you is used today. In modern Irish usage, ye is used as a subject or an object in the plural, to contrast with you (singular).

Synonyms
  • (second-person plural): For semantic relationships of this term, see y'all in the Thesaurus.
Derived terms
References
  • Newcastle 1970s, Scott Dobson and Dick Irwin,

Verb

ye (present participle yeyn)

  1. (obsolete) Address a single person by the use of the pronoun ye instead of thou.
    • 1483, Catholicon Anglicum: An English–Latin Wordbook (Monson 168), page 426
      To ȝe, vosare jn plurali numero vos vestrum vel tibi [perh. read vobis].
    • 1511, Promptorium Parvulorum (de Worde), sig. M.iiiᵛ/2
      Yeyn or sey ye with worshyp, viso.
Synonyms
  • (address by the pronoun ye): yeet (obsolete)
Antonyms
  • (address by the pronoun ye): thowt (obsolete)

Etymology 2

From Middle English þe. The letter y was sometimes used for þ (“thorn”), a letter which corresponds to modern th because þ did not exist in the first press typographies, so was replaced using either "th", which replaced it, or "y", which resembled it in Late Mideval and Early Modern Blackletter. Etymological y was for a time distinguished by a dot, ẏ, but the letters were conflated when that was dropped.

Pronunciation

  • Traditionally pronounced the same as the, but now often pronounced with the ordinary sound of <y>: IPA(key): /jiː/

Article

ye

  1. (archaic, definite) the
    • 1647, The old deluder, Satan, Act. (cited in American Public School Law, K. Alexander, M. Alexander, 1995)
      It being one cheife proiect of ye ould deluder, Satan, to keepe men from the knowledge of Scriptures, as in formr times by keeping ym in an unknowne tongue, so in these lattr times by perswading from ye use of tongues, yt so at least ye true sence & meaning of ye originall might be clouded by false glosses of saint seeming deceivers, yt learning may not be buried in ye church and commonwealth, the Lord assisting or endeavors,—
    • Ye Olde Medicine Shoppe.
Derived terms

Etymology 3

Shortened from yes.

Interjection

ye

  1. (slang) Yes.

Etymology 4

From Russian е (je).

Pronoun

ye (plural yes)

  1. The Cyrillic Russian letter Е, е.
Translations

Anagrams

Asturian

Verb

ye

  1. third-person singular present indicative of ser

Azerbaijani

Verb

ye

  1. second-person singular imperative positive of yemək

Catawba

Noun

ye

  1. man (adult male human), men
  2. person, people
  3. Native American Indian(s)

Usage notes

  • Catawba nouns do not inflect for number.
  • Many of Catawba's names for tribes incorporate this word, e.g. yę iswa (“the Catawba”, literally “people of the river”), yę manterą (“the Cherokee”, literally “people born in/on the land”).
  • The vowel of this word is generally nasalized; this is reflected in different ways or not at all in different transcriptions: ye, yę, yen. Sometimes, an initial i, also nasalized, is found: inyen / įyę.

References

  • 1858, Oscar M. Lieber, Vocabulary of the Catawba Language
  • 1900, Albert S. Gatschet, Grammatic Sketch of the Catawba Language (published in the American Anthropologist)
  • 1942, Frank G. Speck and C. E. Shaeffer, Catawba Kinship and Social Organization
  • 1945, Frank T. Siebert, Jr., Linguistic Classification of Catawba (published in the International Journal of American Linguistics)

Haitian Creole

Verb

ye

  1. Form of se used at the end of a phrase, after the predicate and the subject, in that order; to be.
    Kimoun ou ye? (“Who are you?”, literally “Who you are?”)

Ido

Etymology

From Esperanto je.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /je/, /jɛ/

Preposition

ye

  1. to, at, by (preposition used when no other fits the meaning)
    Lu kaptis la kavalo per lazo ye la kolo.
    He/she captured the horse by a lasso to the neck.
    Ye la angulo di la strado.
    At the corner of the street.
    Ilu prenis elu ye la tayo.
    He took her by the waist.

Noun

ye (plural ye-i)

  1. The name of the Latin script letter Y/y.

See also

Mandarin

Romanization

ye

  1. Nonstandard spelling of yē.
  2. Nonstandard spelling of yé.
  3. Nonstandard spelling of yě.
  4. Nonstandard spelling of yè.

Usage notes

  • English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology 1

From Old English ġē.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈjeː/
  • Rhymes: -eː

Pronoun

ye (accusative yow, genitive youres, youren, possessive determiner youre)

  1. Second-person plural pronoun: ye, you (plural).
  2. (formal) second-person singular pronoun: you (singular).
Usage notes

The formal singular usage, following the T-V distinction, was used to address one's superiors, elders or others to whom one might wish to show politeness or respect.

Descendants
See also
  • ȝit (second-person dual pronoun)

References

Etymology 2

From Old English ēaġe.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈiː(ə)/

Noun

yë (plural yën)

  1. Alternative form of eie
    • Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, lines 9–10:
      And smale foweles maken melodye, / That slepen al the nyght with open yë.

Etymology 3

From Old English þē (“you, thee”), accusative and dative form of þū.

Pronoun

ye

  1. (chiefly Northern dialectal) Alternative form of þe

References

Novial

Etymology

From Esperanto je.

Preposition

ye

  1. wild card preposition

Scots

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

IPA(key): /jiː/, /jɪ/

Pronoun

ye (second person, singular or plural; possessive determiner yer, possessive pronoun yers, singular reflexive yersel, plural reflexive yersel)

  1. you

Spanish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɟ͡ʝe/

Noun

ye f (plural yes)

  1. The name of the Latin-script letter Y/y.
    Synonym: i griega

Usage notes

"Ye" was recommended by the Real Academia Española as a simpler name for the more common "i griega" (literally "Greek i"). Adoption of it has been slow.

Further reading

Turkish

Etymology 1

Noun

ye

  1. The name of the Latin-script letter Y/y.
See also

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Persian یه‎ (ye).

Noun

ye

  1. Last letter of the Arabic alphabet: ي
    • Previous: و‎

Verb

ye

  1. second-person singular imperative of yemek
Antonyms

Uzbek

Verb

ye

  1. imperative of yemoq

Volapük

Conjunction

ye

  1. however

Zulu

Pronoun

-ye

  1. Combining stem of yena.
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