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:
“It shouldn’t be this black box that we say, ‘Verily thou shalt, and then that’s the answer.’”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
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
“Canst thou climb the ladder or wilt go pickaback? Tis a great height, but there are resting places.”
From "The Door in the Wall" by Marguerite de Angeli
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
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
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
Announcing her departure, Megan said: "It's been such an honor to be part of thee Moulin Rouge family."
From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2026
Get thee to a department store for some soft furnishings.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 3, 2026
“Thanks to the petition. ... I wouldn’t have done it without you. Oh CitizenNIKA you are thee moment. Gold Trump card free of charge.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 29, 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
“Come, and I’ll give thee a bite to eat.”
From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare
There is no ye olde mansion to visit, the house Morris was born and died in having been torn down in 1905 to make way for a railyard.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Here’s the tl;dr, Mr. President: That line about “Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair!” sounds awesome but is meant to be ironic.
From Salon ● May 3, 2026
But it’s out with Barrie, back to ye old “Bohème.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 2, 2025
Burton replied: "You've never been nicked or had ye prints took anyway so doesn't matter".
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2025
Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.”
From "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" by Frederick Douglass
Honestly, it was all of an era with regular visitors getting rooms “comped,” and waitresses bringing drinks on the house if you sat at a slot long enough.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
"We stand with you and will continue to fight for a day when you can play sports without controversy."
From Barron's ● Nov. 6, 2026
“I’m aware of all those social issues, as you can imagine, and I care desperately about all the problems facing us,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
But then once the car is in a better window, then you can fight further up front and eventually, of course, win races.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 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
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
She’s “to thine own self be true” in neon.
From New York Times ● Nov. 7, 2023
O Lord, save thy people and bless thine heritage.
From BBC ● May 5, 2023
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
“Let God’s will, not mine or thine, be done,” says Mother calmly.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
Talarico has made the New Testament command to love thy neighbor a centerpiece of his campaign.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
Ecclesiastes 11:1: “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.”
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 7, 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
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
“It sends the blood flying through thy veins to warm thee. Besides, it strengthens thy body and, best of all, it strengthens thy spirit to do a hard thing.”
From "The Door in the Wall" by Marguerite de Angeli
A weekend in Las Vegas could cost little more than what you left behind in the casino, and your casino chip was currency all over town.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
“But what happens when you are competing as a distant No. 3, with a player that is 20 times your size continuing to raise new private capital at meaningfully higher levels than your current valuation?”
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2026
“What happened to you once you became aware of it? How did this start to inform the way you moved your body through the world, the way you thought about your own safety?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
Pigott described caffeine as "a bit like going into your overdraft - you might immediately have a little bit more money or cash, but that does need to be repaid in some format".
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026
“Yes. I don’t want you to go through this on your own.”
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
Their spice cabinet becomes yours; their stove, your stove; their neighborhood grocery store, your little errand.
From Salon ● Oct. 28, 2026
Did you look at anyone else’s residency when you were putting yours together?
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
“When we retire, we’ll have all these incredible stories and incredible memories, and yours will be at the top of it all,” Witkoff said in comments directly to the Russian leader.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026
But don't assume responsibility for things that were never yours to carry.
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026
She says how important it is to understand, to know the meaning of the words, because once you know a word, you can own it—it’s yours, and it’s a part of you.
From "The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller
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