thou
1 Americanpronoun
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
pronoun
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archaic refers to the person addressed: used mainly in familiar address or to a younger person or inferior
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(usually capital) refers to God when addressed in prayer, etc
noun
-
one thousandth of an inch. 1 thou is equal to 0.0254 millimetre
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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
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
When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death,
From BBC ● May 5, 2023
While the congregation recited the Twenty-third Psalm—“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; for thou art with me...”
From "Jacob Have I Loved" by Katherine Paterson
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
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
Yous a fetch a me a da mon, a da rest, ten a thous, an an—a Daise beez a da liber.
From An Oregon Girl A Tale of American Life in the New West by Rice, Alfred Ernest
Get thee to a department store for some soft furnishings.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 3, 2026
Like Donne, we can mine wisdom from the frailty of our mortal bodies—but be grateful that when the bell tolls for thee, plague, smallpox and typhus won’t be to blame.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026
We are into the first of thee added minutes at the end of the first half.
From BBC ● Mar. 31, 2024
The Times discovered the misappropriated material by running thee manuscripts through iThenticate, a plagiarism-detection software program used frequently by researchers, publishers and instructors.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 8, 2023
“Does thee plan to marry him?” she asked gently.
From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare
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
Searching for a way back to their inn, they discover, you guessed it, ye olde Craigh na Dun.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2025
Ho quoted from the Bible, Matthew 7:7—“Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”
From Salon ● May 19, 2024
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
“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 "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
“Once plain water became suspect, it became a category you could charge a premium to solve,” said Jenna Movsowitz, co-founder of Express Checkout, a Substack newsletter about trends in consumer packaged goods.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
The Chase Sapphire Preferred card, the $95 a year card that influencers can’t stop touting, is offering 100,000 points in Chase’s rewards currency if you sign up by July 30.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
“It’s just a culmination of all of it, you know?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
If you are Aberdeen, you're going to play it off the full-backs, get at them through the middle, and they will steamroll Hearts.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
“Are there not three of you stranded in my country?” she continues.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
She’s “to thine own self be true” in neon.
From New York Times ● Nov. 7, 2023
May godliness be their guidance, may sanctity be their strength, may peace on earth be the fruit of their labours, and their joy in heaven thine eternal gift; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2022
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
Go tentpole-wide with “All superheroes wear masks,” or hit the prestige note with something like “Drink to me only with thine eyes.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2020
And: “‘This above all, to thine own self be true.’”
From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein
Ecclesiastes 11:1: “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.”
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 7, 2026
Not even the creature’s eloquence moves Victor to self-reflection: “O Frankenstein, be not equitable to every other, and trample upon me alone, to whom thy justice, and even thy clemency and affection, is most due.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026
He offered words of wisdom for Thanksgiving: “Always do thy duty, which is best, leave unto the Lord the rest.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 26, 2025
As “The Ballad of the Witches Road” says, “Primal night, giveth sight familiar by thy side. If onе be gone, we carry on, spirit as our guidе.”
From Salon ● Oct. 31, 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
Just don’t expect to have your pick of round-trip flights to Europe in business class.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
"People say your 20s are the best years of your life and these are the worst years of my life, by far."
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
Party like it’s 1996: Have you noticed that you’re more in touch with your friends than ever before, but you’re not actually as close to them as you wish you were?
From Slate ● Jul. 28, 2026
However, if your stepdad has named someone else, funds will be paid to them.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
The cortex is where you actually see what your eyes transmit, smell what your nose senses, taste what your tongue samples, touch what your nerves report, and hear what your ears pick up.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
"It's very much our money rather than mine or yours which is really nice especially as I took four years off work when we had children," says Sarah.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026
Hathaway, 43, had recently announced her pregnancy on Instagram, with the caption: “x Baby, I’m yours x.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 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
But it’s important to remember that this is still your grandmother’s money, not yours and not your father’s.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026
“You know,” the guy continued, “just about every poem we received was one of those dreadful rap poems. But yours was so simple, so dignified, and so American. And yet, it sounded almost.. . British.”
From "The Million Dollar Shot" by Dan Gutman
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.
