my
pronoun
(a form of the possessive case of I used as an attributive adjective).
Showing results for "my"
- possessive of I.
my
1 American
[mahy]
/ maɪ /
pronoun
interjection
my-
2
American
my
1
British
/ maɪ /
determiner
-
of, belonging to, or associated with the speaker or writer (me)
my own ideas
do you mind my smoking?
-
used in various forms of address
my lord
my dear boy
-
used in various exclamations
my goodness!
interjection
MY
2
British
abbreviation
my
3
British
abbreviation
my-
4
British
combining form
Grammar
See me.
Usage
What does my- mean? My- is a combining form used like a prefix meaning “muscle.” It is often used in medical terms, especially in anatomy. My- comes from the Greek mŷs, meaning “muscle” and “mouse.” Mouse? You read that right. Discover why at our entry for muscle!My- is a variant of myo-, which loses its -o- when combined with words or word elements beginning with vowels. Want to know more? Read our Words That Use myo- article.
Etymology
Origin of my
First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English mī, variant of mīn, Old English mīn; see mine 1
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:
“Today, I mourn the 3K lives, 6K injuries, & infrastructural devastation in NYC, perpetuated ignorantly in the name of my faith,” El-Sayed wrote on Sept. 11, 2021.
From Salon ● Sep. 2, 2026
"If I had the ability to lower my prices to retain that, I could do a percentage of my business at that lower rate without losing the margin."
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
“I’ve built my financial plan around renting forever,” she said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026
“I’ve missed a lot with my family. I’ve missed every birthday, every anniversary,” said one sailor, adding that he wasn’t able to be home to comfort relatives after the deaths of his aunt and mother-in-law.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
Father jostles my knee and points at the skyline.
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
While the public relations effort to mold Hillary into a traditional my- heart-belongs-to-hubby First Lady means that campaign insiders are reluctant to publicly acknowledge her substantive role, her imprint on the staff shake-up seems clear.
From Time Magazine Archive
“How could I tie my- self up? Why would I do that?”
From "The Queen of Water" by Laura Resau
Why I should find it a pleasure, in France, to imagine my- self in Italy, is more than I can say; the illusion has never lasted long enough to be analyzed.
From A Little Tour in France by Henry James
This church has high beauty and value, but I will spare the reader a presentation of details which I my- self had no opportunity to master.
From A Little Tour in France by Henry James
For my- self, I confess that I swallowed my portion of fish as it was — raw and bleeding.
From The Survivors of the Chancellor by Jules Verne
The administration’s office of defects investigation had opened a preliminary evaluation in April after receiving complaints about a loss of brake assistance in 2023 MY Cadillac Lyriq vehicles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
“OH MY GOD. It’s SO STRONG!!!” one angle of Givens proclaims to the other as the chorus hits.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2025
The programme will be renamed Love Songs with Michael Ball - but the singer said he wanted to "ensure that this won't be just MY show, but OUR show".
From BBC ● Apr. 2, 2024
AS MY 7-YEAR-OLD daughter and I walk up to the entrance, we can smell saltwater from the Thea Foss Waterway and the aroma of jerk chicken coming from Gigo’s Jamaican Grill food truck.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 15, 2023
“OUT OF MY WAY!” shouted Mrs. Weasley to the three girls, and with a swipe of her wand she began to duel.
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
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.
