thou

¹ American  

[thou] / ðaʊ /

pronoun

singular

thou,

possessive

thy, thine,

objective

thee,

plural

you, ye,

possessive

your, yours,

objective

you, ye

1. Archaic except in some elevated or ecclesiastical prose. the second person singular subject pronoun, equivalent to modern you (used to denote the person or thing addressed).

   Thou shalt not kill.

2. (used byQuakers ) a familiar form of address of the second person singular.

   Thou needn’t apologize.

---

verb (used with object)

1. to address as “thou,” especially during an era of historical English when “thou” was distinguished as an informal form of you.

   It would have been scandalous for household staff to thou the lord of the manor.

verb (used without object)

1. to use “thou” in discourse.

   There are still Quakers who thou as a matter of custom.

thou ² American  

[thou] / θaʊ /

noun

Slang.

plural

thous,

plural

thou

1. one thousand dollars, pounds, etc.

---

thou ¹ British  

/ ðaʊ /

pronoun

1. archaic refers to the person addressed: used mainly in familiar address or to a younger person or inferior

2. (usually capital) refers to God when addressed in prayer, etc

---

thou ² British  

/ θaʊ /

noun

1. one thousandth of an inch. 1 thou is equal to 0.0254 millimetre

2. informal short for thousand

---

Etymology

Origin of thou¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English thū; cognate with German, Middle Dutch du, Old Norse thū, Gothic thu, Old Irish tú, Welsh, Cornish ti, Latin tū, Doric Greek tý, Lithuanian tù, Old Church Slavonic ty; akin to Sanskrit tvam; (verb) late Middle English thowen, derivative of the pronoun

Origin of thou²

First recorded in 1865–70; by shortening

Example Sentences

The “equity for me but not for thee” era feels over.

From The Wall Street Journal

Next I stopped at Mam’s grave and said a quick “May the angels lead thee into Paradise.”

From Literature

Two years after Elisha’s death, she wrote her love a poem, “Oh, that I could die and be with thee!”

From Literature

“I think there’s a passage in the Bible that could explain it better than I could; where it says ‘O ye of little faith.’

From Literature

It was just so strange and dark and felt a little bit illicit, even though it was “ye olde literature” to me at the time.

From Los Angeles Times