thou
1 Americanpronoun
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
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
A church warden said it was "ironic" that thieves stole a painting of the Ten Commandments, including text reading "thou shalt not steal", from a church.
From BBC ● Feb. 28, 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
Imagine the difference to the sense, he says, if you place the comma after the word “not”: “My Son, if sinners intise thee consent thou not, refraining thy foot from their way.”
From "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" by Author
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
No thees or thous in a streamlined Shakespeare Suppose you wanted to modernize Shakespeare, pull him up by his Elizabethan pantoffles and bring his 37 plays into our more streamlined age.
From Time Magazine Archive
Because the translators chose to retain "thee" and "thou" forms in addressing God, many of the Psalms are studded with "thees," "thous," "hasts," and "didsts."
From Time Magazine Archive
If indeed thous apprehendest Him who administers the universe, if thou bearest Him about within thee, canst thou still hanker after mere fragments of stone and fine rock?
From The Golden Sayings of Epictetus by Epictetus
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
Her sister Maya, 57, also spoke on thee night, saying their mother had been a "trailblazer", having set "great expectations of us".
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2024
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
‘Neither have those others who go with thee. They go only because they would not be parted from thee — because they love thee.’
From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien
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
Burton replied: "You've never been nicked or had ye prints took anyway so doesn't matter".
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2025
That’s enough of a red flag by itself, but JP’s 24/7 style commitment to stars, stripes and ye olde red, white and blue had viewers scouring footage for signs of a telltale scarlet cap.
From Salon ● Oct. 25, 2024
Because ye know what I see when a lass is maligned for something she can’t help and yet she still shows up anyway?”
From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston
By Dan Tana Radius Book Group: 384 pages, $30 If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
In Sonny’s notebook, every observation is a moral choice, a mini-essay about what proper conduct is, what failure is, how you might get past it, and what our responsibilities to others might be.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
But you don’t have to wholly buy into the idea of a character like Sonny to find something intriguing about what Adeline is saying about storytelling throughout “People Watching.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
But they’re also crueler, and you can understand why she’ll think and write about anything but.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
The Phrenologists reason that if you have a strong organ, it will be big and project from your skull as a bump.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
The milkshake cup features Proverbs 3:5: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2025
“That was what my mama always used to say: to thine own self be true. I put a lot of stock in that,” she told The Guardian.
From Salon ● Oct. 19, 2023
Several of his pieces reflect the importance of Byrd, most explicitly “Two Motets,” an orchestration of “Bow thine Ear” and “Miserere mei, Deus.”
From New York Times ● Jul. 4, 2023
"I read the last one of those love letters at her funeral. You know the one that goes 'Ever thine ever mine'… I don't ever look it up now. I can't."
From BBC ● Nov. 28, 2020
“Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast,” he whispered, repeating a speech he had heard in the movies.
From "Stuart Little" by E.B. White
Ecclesiastes 11:1: “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.”
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 7, 2026
The Gospel reading for Ash Wednesday is from the sixth chapter of Matthew—the chapter in which Jesus teaches the disciples to recite the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 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
And definitely no need to worry about that Jesus guy, with all his notions about "loving thy neighbor" and "welcoming the stranger."
From Salon ● Mar. 28, 2024
“This is not thy deception, nor thy witchcraft: it is the work of nature. She was roused, and did—no miracle—but her best.”
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
As I watched you being Alex Jones, I thought, “This really has to hurt your throat.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
You are in the distribution phase of your retirement, so how will he help minimize your tax burden?
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026
WSJ | Buy Side: Good Weather Skin’s Daily Lip Sun Gloss protects your lips from the sun’s rays while offering a subtle, flattering tint.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
“When you have a more robust light signal early in the morning, that will help keep your internal circadian system synchronized to the day.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
Both me and your dad are hardheaded, but we still family.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
If yours is a private student loan, ask the lender whether it offers temporary-hardship assistance or payment-relief programs.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026
Here’s a quick guide to whether yours or your kid’s e-bike is legal under California law and who is legally allowed to ride them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
The emails caught my attention, and now yours too.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
European tourists having a great time in America have been a recurring bit on my social media feeds lately, and perhaps on yours too.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2026
"Glad all my stories sunk into that dense head of yours."
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
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.
