thou
1 Americanpronoun
-
you,
plural, objective
-
ye,
plural, objective
-
thee,
objective
-
thy,
possessive
-
thine,
possessive
-
your,
possessive
-
yours
possessive
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
-
thous,
plural
-
thou
plural
pronoun
-
archaic refers to the person addressed: used mainly in familiar address or to a younger person or inferior
-
(usually capital) refers to God when addressed in prayer, etc
noun
-
one thousandth of an inch. 1 thou is equal to 0.0254 millimetre
-
informal short for thousand
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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
Explanation
The word thou, used in place of "you," is not used much in modern language. In fact, with its Biblical feeling, it’s most often used in religious contexts. Otherwise, it might be used as slang for thousand. Anyone familiar with the Bible knows the word thou means "you." As the word worked its way from Old English, it varied a little in its subtext, from a plural referring to higher-ups, then to equals, and, around 1450, as a slightly insulting reference suggesting inferiority. Today, it's used primarily by specific religious groups, or as a somewhat affected, archaic word in poetry. As a side note, if someone asks you for a thou, they mean a thousand dollars.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Ecclesiastes 11:1: “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.”
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 7, 2026
He said the Eleventh Commandment of the Bible should be "thou shalt not be indifferent".
From BBC ● Feb. 19, 2025
When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him?
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2024
“In wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.”
From Salon ● Oct. 22, 2023
Even in such a voice, the verses touched me: “I am the words, thou the melody; I the seed, thou the bearer; the heaven I, the earth thou.”
From "Homeless Bird" by Gloria Whelan
An unpublished short story by Charlotte Brontë featuring flogging and embezzling, as well as a poem stuffed with thees and thous, have been discovered inside a book owned by the novelist’s mother.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 12, 2015
This is precisely the sort of diction that Tagore chose for the English Gitanjali, which, with its thees and thous, has so tried our patience.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 8, 2011
Well, first you would change the thees, the thous, the thys and the thines.
From Time Magazine Archive
This mostly felicitous British rendition updates the New English Bible of 1970, shedding thees and thous and many male nouns and pronouns.
From Time Magazine Archive
He thous and thees her with grave husbandwords.
From Ulysses by James Joyce
"I thee web" leads the Sun as it reports Tom Holland and Zendaya have married "again in secret £500k bash at UK hotel".
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
Get thee to a department store for some soft furnishings.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 3, 2026
I then couldn’t help but recall Shakespeare: “Now cracks a noble heart. Good-night, sweet prince. And angels sing thee to thy rest.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 14, 2026
One piece she’s never heard, however, is Richard Lovelace’s poem “To Lucasta, On Going to the Wars,” which ends with the lines “I could not love thee, Dear, so much/Loved I not Honour more.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2024
ThouTt take the best son of a mare that thee kinst find, and thou wilt ride post into Warwickshire, lad, wi’ nowt but the curlew?”
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
The book is signed on the inside front cover in black ballpoint pen by Sir Paul, reading: "All the best! to ye!"
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026
The former is known for promoting evangelism, as seen in Jesus’ directive in Mark 16:15: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
Founded in 1963, the fair has become known for ye olde trail of fyne, fanciful foods.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2026
They all listened as the sergeant at arms announced “hear ye, hear ye, all persons are commanded to keep silent under pain of imprisonment” during the course of the impeachment trial.
From Slate ● Apr. 19, 2024
It’ll be time for ye to be getting scart when ye see the tombsteans all run away with, and the place as bare as a stubble-field.
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
“We wanted to inform you and explain how you could resolve your issues with the United States discreetly and professionally,” Greisen wrote, according to a translation provided by prosecutors.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
We should have well-funded schools for all American children, where success isn’t so tied to where you call home and the relative affluence of your neighbors.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026
The lawyer asked Peggie: "My reading is that the strategy is Sex Matters' strategy, as opposed to being a particular strategy from you?"
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
It will keep using sales drivers like ads with Google, Meta and TikTok, but Spot & Tango’s founders have decided that “performance marketing can only take you so far.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
What would it be like to be a tiny girl in a giant war, surrounded by people who underestimated you?
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
All of those candidate contortions bring to mind a line from Hamlet: To thine own self be true.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2024
O Lord, save thy people and bless thine heritage.
From BBC ● May 5, 2023
We continually talk about loving thine enemy, but really, just try to understand and forgive people you literally couldn’t stand at all just a little while ago.
From New York Times ● Aug. 25, 2021
This is intentional, part of its strategy to allow the story to play on a field of idealism and emphasize its loftier messages of both knowing yourself and "to thine own self, be true."
From Salon ● Aug. 7, 2021
Daddy brought along his Bible, so we read Proverbs 3:5 along with the deacon’s scripture reading: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
From "Finding Langston" by Lesa Cline-Ransome
Thou art risen to great estate and fortune — release thy shackles.
From MarketWatch ● May 21, 2026
I then couldn’t help but recall Shakespeare: “Now cracks a noble heart. Good-night, sweet prince. And angels sing thee to thy rest.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 14, 2026
The inscription on its back partially reads: “Realizing the oneness of thy self with the eternal through unified consciousness. Man know thy self.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2025
His crime: taking too seriously the biblical commandment to love thy neighbor and the injunction not to kill.
From New York Times ● Jun. 5, 2024
But I say to thee, Gandalf Mithrandir, I will not be thy tool!
From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien
“Hannah wants you to take your medicine. Hannah wants you to relax.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
We should have well-funded schools for all American children, where success isn’t so tied to where you call home and the relative affluence of your neighbors.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026
Has your boss asked you to phone in about sickness?
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
The alternative is watching competitors or third-party marketplaces become the front door to your ecosystem—and losing the customer relationship before it even starts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
“Look, I don’t want to be in your stupid club. Get over it,” I reply harshly.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
But they’re not going to figure out an account is yours if there’s genuinely nothing connecting it to you.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
In July, outgoing prime minister Sir Keir Starmer issued a formal apology to those mothers, telling them: "The shame is not yours... the shame is ours."
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026
Teach people that discernment requires looking behind the label, and eventually they may look behind yours, too.
From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026
People do share in great detail here all the time, but yours is deeply personal.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026
Our students have been coming in early every morning for the past three weeks to work on our paper chain to add to yours.
From "Linked" by Gordon Korman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
