they

English Online Dictionary. What means they‎? What does they mean?

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: thā, IPA^(key): /ðeɪ/
• Rhymes: -eɪ

Etymology 1

From Middle English þei, borrowed in the 1200s from Old Norse þeir, plural of the demonstrative sá which acted as a plural pronoun. Displaced native Middle English he from Old English hīe — which vowel changes had left indistinct from he (“he”) — by the 1400s, being readily incorporated alongside native words beginning with the same sound (the, that, this). Used as a singular pronoun since 1300, e.g. in the 1325 Cursor Mundi.

The Norse term (whence also Icelandic þeir (“they”), Faroese teir (“they”), Danish de (“they”), Swedish de (“they”), Norwegian Nynorsk dei (“they”)) is from Proto-Germanic *þai (“those”) (from Proto-Indo-European *to- (“that”)), whence also Old English þā (“those”) (whence obsolete English tho), Scots thae, thai, thay (“they; those”).

The origin of the determiner they (“the, those”) is unclear. The OED, English Dialect Dictionary and Middle English Dictionary define it and its Middle English predecessor thei as a demonstrative determiner or adjective meaning "those" or "the". This could be a continuation of the use of the English pronoun they's Old Norse etymon þeir as a demonstrative meaning "those", but the OED and EDD say it is limited to southern, especially southwestern, England, specifically outside the region of Norse contact.

Pronoun

they (third-person, nominative case, usually plural, sometimes singular, objective case them, possessive their, possessive noun theirs, reflexive themselves, or reflexive singular themself)

2. (the third-person plural nominative) A group of entities previously mentioned. [since the 1200s]
4. (the third-person singular nominative, occasionally proscribed) A single person, previously mentioned, but typically not if previously named and identified as male or female, especially if of unknown, irrelevant or (since 21st century) non-binary gender. [since the 1300s]
   • 2008, Michelle Obama, quoted in Lisa Rogak, Michelle Obama in Her Own Words, New York, NY: PublicAffairs, 2009. →ISBN, page 18:

     One thing a nominee earns is the right to pick the vice president that they think will best reflect their vision of the country, and I am just glad I will have nothing to do with it.

   • 2015 April, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (mayor of Baltimore), commenting on the death of Freddie Gray:

     I'm angry that we're here again, that we have had to tell another mother that their child is dead.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:they.
6. (indefinite pronoun, vague meaning) People; some people; people in general; someone, excluding the speaker.

   Coordinate terms: one, generic you
8. (indefinite pronoun) The authorities: government, police, employers, etc.

9. (bridge) The opponents of the side which is keeping score.

   Antonym: we

Usage notes

• (singular pronoun): Usage of they as a singular pronoun began in the 1300s and has been common ever since, despite attempts by some grammarians, beginning in 1795, to condemn it as a violation of traditional (Latinate) agreement rules. Some other grammarians have countered that criticism since at least 1896. Fowler's Modern English Usage (third edition) notes that it "is being left unaltered by copy editors" and is "not widely felt to lie in a prohibited zone." Some authors compare use of singular they to widespread use of singular you instead of thou. See Wikipedia's article on singular they for more; see also the usage notes about themself. (Compare he.)
• (singular pronoun): Even when used as a singular pronoun, in standard English singular they uses the same verb conjugations as plural they, like singular and plural you: "George, you were [not was] here when the masked figure ran past, were [not was] they wearing red or blue?"
• (singular pronoun): Infrequently, they is used of an individual person of known, binary gender. See citations.
• (singular pronoun): Infrequently, they is used of an individual animal which would more commonly be referred to as it. See citations.
• (indefinite pronoun): One is also an indefinite pronoun, but the two words do not mean the same thing and are rarely interchangeable. "They" refers to people in general (hence the expressions they say, so they say, you know what they say), whereas "one" refers to one person (often such that what is true for that person is true for everyone). You may also be used to refer to people in general; such use of that pronoun is called the generic you.

  They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

  One may say, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

  You may say, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

Alternative forms

• (rare, dialect or eye dialect:) dey (th-stopping dialects), thay, theye (archaic), thaay (Gloucestershire, Berkshire, possibly archaic)

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• other attested third-person singular pronouns
• theirselves, theirself (nonstandard)

Determiner

they

1. (now Southern England dialect or nonstandard) The, those. [from 14th c.]
   • 1878, Louis John Jennings, Field Paths and Green Lanes, quoting an old East Sussex man:

     "They rooks as you see [...] only coom a few year agoo."

   • 1901, Gwendoline Keats (of Devon), Tales of Dunstáble Weir, page 55:

     "Bodies and souls," she cried, "if I didn't reckon to have hidden they boots safe from un in the stick-rick." "Off wi' they tight-wasted shoes o' yours, Martha."
2. (US dialects, including African-American Vernacular) Their. [from 19th c.]

Alternative forms

• (rare, dialect or eye dialect:) the; thay, thaay (Gloucestershire, Berkshire, possibly archaic)

Etymology 2

From earlier the'e, from there.

Pronoun

they

1. (US dialectal) There (especially as an expletive subject of be). [from 19th c.]

References

Anagrams

• hyte, thye, ythe

Middle English

Etymology 1

Pronoun

they

1. Alternative form of þei (“they”)

Etymology 2

Determiner

they

1. Alternative form of þi (“thy”)

Etymology 3

Pronoun

they

1. Alternative form of þe (“thee”)

Etymology 4

Noun

they (plural þeies)

1. Alternative spelling of þey (“thigh”)

Etymology 5

Adverb

they

1. Alternative spelling of þey (“though”)

Conjunction

they

1. Alternative spelling of þey (“though”)

Etymology 6

Numeral

they

1. Alternative spelling of þey (“two”)