die

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

English

Alternative forms

• dye (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• enPR: dī, IPA^(key): /daɪ/
  • (US, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): [daɪ]
  • (Standard Southern British) IPA^(key): [dɑj]
  • (General Australian) IPA^(key): [dɑɪ]
  • (Canada) IPA^(key): [daɪ]
    • (Ottawa Valley) IPA^(key): [dəj]
• Rhymes: -aɪ
• Homophones: dye, Di, Dai, daye

Etymology 1

From Middle English deyen, from Old English dīeġan and Old Norse deyja, both from Proto-Germanic *dawjaną (“to die”). Displaced Old English sweltan, whence Modern English swelt.

Verb

die (third-person singular simple present dies, present participle dying, simple past and past participle died)

1. (intransitive) To stop living; to become dead; to undergo death.
   1. followed by of as an indication of direct cause; general use:
   2. followed by from as an indication of direct cause; general use, though somewhat more common in the context of medicine or the sciences:
   3. followed by for; often expressing wider contextual motivations, though sometimes indicating direct causes:
   4. (now rare) followed by with as an indication of direct cause:
   5. (uncommon, nonstandard outside video games) followed by to as an indication of direct cause (like from):
   6. (still current) followed by with as an indication of manner:

   7. (in bare form) to die in a certain form.

2. (transitive) To (stop living and) undergo (a specified death).
3. (video games, slang) To lose or be eliminated from a game, particularly with a deathlike animation.

4. (intransitive, figuratively) To yearn intensely.
5. (intransitive, uncommon, idiomatic) To be or become hated or utterly ignored or cut off, as if dead.
6. (intransitive, figuratively) To become spiritually dead; to lose hope.
7. (intransitive, colloquial, hyperbolic) To be mortified or shocked by a situation.

9. (intransitive, figurative, hyperbolic) To be so overcome with emotion or laughter as to be incapacitated.
   • 1976, an anchorman on Channel Five in California, quoted in Journal and Newsletter [of the] California Classical Association, Northern Section:

     I literally died when I saw that.

10. (intransitive, of a machine) To stop working; to break down or otherwise lose "vitality".

11. (intransitive, of a computer program) To abort, to terminate (as an error condition).
12. (intransitive, of a legislative bill or resolution) To expire at the end of the session of a legislature without having been brought to a vote.

13. To perish; to cease to exist; to become lost or extinct.
14. To sink; to faint; to pine; to languish, with weakness, discouragement, love, etc.
15. (often with "to") To become indifferent; to cease to be subject.

16. (architecture) To disappear gradually in another surface, as where mouldings are lost in a sloped or curved face.
17. To become vapid, flat, or spiritless, as liquor.
18. (of a stand-up comedian or a joke, slang) To fail to evoke laughter from the audience.

Usage notes

• In Middle and Early Modern English, the phrase is dead was more common where the present perfect form has died is common today. Example:

1611, King James Bible

I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. (Gal. 2:21)

Conjugation

Synonyms

• (to stop living): assume room temperature, bite the dust, bite the big one, buy the farm, check out, code, cross over, cross the river, decompose, dematerialize, expire, succumb, give up the ghost, pass, pass away, pass on, be no more, meet one's maker, be a stiff, push up the daisies, hop off the twig, kick the bucket, shuffle off this mortal coil, join the choir invisible
• See also Thesaurus:die

Derived terms

Related terms

• dead
• death
• buried
• bury

Descendants

• → Vietnamese: đai

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English dee, from Old French de (Modern French dé), from Latin datum, from datus (“given”), the past participle of dō (“to give”), from Proto-Indo-European *deh₃- (“to lay out, to spread out”). Doublet of datum.

Replaced Old English tasul, tesul (“die”), from Latin tessella (“die, cube”).

Noun

die (plural dies)

1. The cubical part of a pedestal; a plinth.
2. A device for cutting into a specified shape.
3. A device used to cut an external screw thread. (Internal screw threads are cut with a tap.)
4. A mold for forming metal or plastic objects.
5. An embossed device used in stamping coins and medals.
7. (semiconductors, plural also dice) An oblong chip fractured from a semiconductor wafer engineered to perform as an independent device or integrated circuit.
8. Any small cubical or square body.

Noun

die (plural dice or (nonstandard) dies)

2. An isohedral polyhedron, usually a cube, with numbers or symbols on each side and thrown in games of chance.
3. (obsolete) That which is, or might be, determined, by a throw of the die; hazard; chance.

Usage notes

The game of dice is singular. Thus in "Dice is a game played with dice," the first occurrence is singular, the second occurrence is plural. See also the usage notes under "dice".

Synonyms

• cube of chance
• cube of fortune

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 3

Variant spelling.

Noun

die (plural dies)

1. Obsolete spelling of dye.

Verb

die (third-person singular simple present dies, present participle dying, simple past and past participle died)

1. Obsolete spelling of dye.
   • 1739, John Cay, An abridgment of the publick statutes in force and use from Magna Charta, in the ninth year of King Henry III, to the eleventh year of his present Majesty King George II, inclusive, Drapery, XXVII. Sect. 16:

     Also no dyer shall die any cloth, except he die the cloth and the list with one colour, without tacking any bulrushes or such like thing upon the lists, upon pain to forfeit 40 s. for every cloth. And no person shall put to sale any cloth deceitfully dyed,

See also

Anagrams

• 'eid, EID, e-ID, IED, -ide, DEI, EDI, eID, Ide, Eid, 'Eid, IDE, ide, -ied, eid

Afrikaans

Alternative forms

• di (obsolete)

Etymology

From Dutch die, which is used only as a demonstrative in Dutch. The replacement of the article de with stronger die is also common in Surinamese Dutch and among non-native speakers of Dutch.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di/
• IPA^(key): /‿i/ (article only; contracted form, particularly after prepositions and conjunctions)

Article

die (definite)

1. the (definite article)

   die man ― the man

   die vrou ― the woman

   die kind ― the child

Pronoun

die

1. this one, these; that one, those;

Usage notes

• The demonstrative pronoun (“this/these”, “that/those”) is usually spelt dié in order to distinguish it from the definite article.

Albanian

Adverb

die

1. Alternative form of dje (“yesterday”)

Bavarian

Pronoun

die (dative)

1. (Niederbayerisch) to you

Danish

Etymology

From Old Danish di, from Old Norse *día, from Proto-Germanic *dijōną, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)- (“to suck, suckle”).

Cognate with Latin fellō, Sanskrit धयति (dhayati, “to suck”). Compare causative dægge, Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌳𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (daddjan, “suckle”).

The noun is derived from the verb.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /diːə/, [ˈd̥iːə]

Noun

die c

1. breast milk, mother's milk, when sucked from the breast

Usage notes

Only used in the set phrase "give die".

Verb

die (imperative di, infinitive at die, present tense dier, past tense diede, perfect tense har diet)

1. to suckle

References

• “die,1” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “die,2” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch die, a merger of Old Dutch thie, thē, thia, thiu and similar forms of the demonstrative. As in Old High German ther, der it replaced the original masculine and feminine nominative forms from Proto-Germanic *sa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di/
• Hyphenation: die
• Rhymes: -i

Determiner

die m or f or pl (distal demonstrative, neuter dat)

1. (singular) that; referring to a thing or a person further away.

   die boom

   that tree

   die vrouw

   that woman

2. (plural) those; referring to things or people further away.

   die vensters

   those windows

3. (Suriname, colloquial) a certain, a particular; some; this; referring to a thing or a person invisible or unknown to the audience.

   Die vrouw vraagt als iemand aardvruchten wil kopen. ― A woman is asking if anyone wants to buy root vegetables.

   Ik heb die wagen geslagen. ― I hit a car.

Pronoun

die m or f or pl (distal, neuter dat)

1. (demonstrative, singular) that (one)

2. (demonstrative, plural) those (ones)

3. (relative) who, whom, which, that

Usage notes

A preceding comma may alter the meaning of a clause starting with a relative pronoun. Compare the following sentences:

• Alle arbeiders die staken zullen op sancties moeten rekenen.

  All workers who are on strike should expect sanctions.

• Alle arbeiders, die staken, zullen op sancties moeten rekenen.

  All workers, who are on strike, should expect sanctions.

In the first sentence, only the workers on strike are advised to expect sanctions. In the second sentence, the parenthetical phrase indicates that all the workers are on strike, and should all expect sanctions.

Declension

Derived terms

Descendants

• Afrikaans: die
• Berbice Creole Dutch: dida
• Jersey Dutch: dî
• Negerhollands: die, di, i, dida, da die

See also

German

Etymology

From Middle High German die (acc. f. sg. & nom./acc. m./f. pl.), originally distinguished from diu (nom. f. sg. & nom./acc. n. pl.). This distinction was lost early on in Central German, by the end of the Middle High German period also in Upper German. Ultimately from inflections of Proto-Germanic *sa, which see.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /diː/ (stressed)
• IPA^(key): /dɪ/ (unstressed)
• Rhymes: -iː

Article

die (definite)

1. nominative/accusative singular feminine of der

   die Frau ― the woman

2. nominative/accusative plural of der

   die Männer ― the men

Declension

Pronoun

die (relative or demonstrative)

1. inflection of der:
   1. nominative/accusative singular feminine
   2. nominative/accusative plural
   3. (in a subordinate clause as a relative pronoun) that; which; who; whom; whose

      Ich kenne eine Frau, die das kann. ― I know a woman who can do that.

   4. (as a demonstrative pronoun) this one; that one; these ones; those ones; she; her; it; they; them

      die da ― that one/she/they there

Usage notes

In a subordinate clause, die indicates a person or thing referenced in the main clause. It is used with plural or feminine singular antecedents.

Declension

Anagrams

• Eid

Hunsrik

Alternative forms

• ti (Wiesemann spelling)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtiː/, /ˌti/
• Rhymes: -iː
• Syllabification: die

Article

die (definite)

1. inflection of där:
   1. nominative/accusative singular feminine
   2. nominative/accusative plural

Declension

Pronoun

die

1. she
2. they

Inflection

References

• Piter Kehoma Boll (2021) “die”, in Dicionário Hunsriqueano Riograndense–Português (in Portuguese), 3rd edition, Ivoti: Riograndenser Hunsrickisch, page 34, column 2

Interlingua

Noun

die (plural dies)

1. A day.

Derived terms

• De die in die (“From day to day”)
• Un die (“One day, sometime”)
• Le die sequente (“The next day, the following day”)

Italian

Etymology

From Latin diēs, back-formed from the accusative diem (whose vowel was once long), from Proto-Italic *djēm, from Proto-Indo-European *dyew- (“heaven, sky; to shine”). Doublet of dia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdi.e/
• Rhymes: -ie
• Hyphenation: dì‧e

Noun

die m (invariable)

1. (Old Italian) Alternative form of dì (“day”)

Adverb

die

1. (pharmacy) each day, a day, used in prescriptions to denote daily consumption of a drug

   1 c[om]p[ressa]/die ― 1 tablet a day

Anagrams

• -ide, dei, dèi

Jamaican Creole

Etymology

Derived from English day.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /die/

Noun

die (plural die dem, quantified die)

1. day

Further reading

• die at majstro.com

Japanese

Etymology

Appropriation of English die for a homophone.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) だい [dáꜜì] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [da̠i]

Prefix

die(だい) • (dai-) 

1. (slang, humorous) Alternative spelling of 大 (dai)

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈdi.eː/, [ˈd̪ieː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈdi.e/, [ˈd̪iːe]

Noun

diē m or f

1. ablative/locative singular of diēs (“day”)

   sine die ― without a day

Mandarin

Romanization

die

1. Nonstandard spelling of diē.
2. Nonstandard spelling of dié.

Usage notes

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Middle Dutch

Etymology 1

From Old Dutch thie, thia, from Proto-Germanic *sa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /diə/, /di/

Article

die

1. the; definite article.

Inflection

• Alternative nominative: de

Descendants

• Dutch: de
• Limburgish: d'r, de

Determiner

die

1. that, those
2. who, which, that

Inflection

• diere is an alternative form of dier

Descendants

• Dutch: die, dat
• Limburgish: dae

Further reading

• “die (II)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “die (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page I

Etymology 2

From Old Dutch thīo, from Proto-Germanic *þeuhą.

Noun

dië f or n

1. thigh

Descendants

• Dutch: dij
• Limburgish: die, diech

Further reading

• “die (I)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “die (IV)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page IV

Mirandese

Etymology

Inherited from Classical Latin diēs.

Noun

die m (plural dies)

1. day

Antonyms

• nuite

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Probably from Danish die, from Old Danish di, from Germanic *dijana-, *dejana-

Verb

die (imperative di, present tense dier, passive dies, simple past and past participle dia or diet, present participle diende)

1. to suck, suckle (of a baby on the breast)
2. to breastfeed, nurse (of a mother with her baby)

References

• “die” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “die_2” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Probably from Danish die, from Old Danish di, from Germanic *dijana-, *dejana-

Verb

die (present tense diar, past tense dia, past participle dia, passive infinitive diast, present participle diande, imperative die/di)

1. to suck, suckle (of a baby on the breast)
2. to breastfeed, nurse (of a mother with her baby)

Alternative forms

• dia

References

• “die” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Pennsylvania German

Etymology

From Middle High German and Old High German diu, from Proto-Germanic *sa. Compare German die.

Article

die (definite)

1. nominative/accusative singular feminine of der
2. nominative/accusative plural of der

Declension

Plautdietsch

Pronoun

die

1. (personal) oblique of du

Romanian

Interjection

die

1. Alternative form of di

Saterland Frisian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di/
• Hyphenation: die
• Rhymes: -i

Etymology 1

From Old Frisian thī, from Proto-West Germanic *þa, from Proto-Germanic *sa. Cognates include West Frisian de and German der.

Article

die (unstressed de, oblique dän, feminine ju, neuter dät, plural do)

1. the

Etymology 2

From Old Frisian thī, from Proto-West Germanic *þiʀ, from Proto-Germanic *þiz. Cognates include West Frisian dy and German dir.

Pronoun

die

1. thyself, yourself

See also

Pronoun

die

1. oblique of du; thee, you

See also

References

• Marron C. Fort (2015) “die”, in Saterfriesisches Wörterbuch mit einer phonologischen und grammatischen Übersicht, Buske, →ISBN

Teanu

Etymology

From Proto-Oceanic *suʀi (“fishbone, thorn, splinter”), from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *zuʀi, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *duʀi, from Proto-Austronesian *duʀi (“thorn”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ⁿdie/

Noun

die

1. bone

References

• François, Alexandre. 2021. Teanu dictionary (Solomon Islands). Dictionaria 15. 1-1877. DOI:10.5281/zenodo.5653063. – entry die.
• François, Alexandre. 2021. Online Teanu–English dictionary, with equivalents in Lovono and Tanema. Electronic files. Paris: CNRS. – entry die.
• Lackey, W.J.. & Boerger, B.H. (2021) “Reexamining the Phonological History of Oceanic's Temotu subgroup”, in Oceanic Linguistics.

Turkish

Adverb

die

1. (text messaging) Alternative spelling of diye

Yola

Alternative forms

• dei, dey, daie

Etymology

From Middle English day, from Old English dæġ, from Proto-West Germanic *dag.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /diː/, /deː/
• Homophone: dee

Noun

die (plural dais or daies or daiez)

1. day

Derived terms

• to-die
• hollydie
• die oaskean
• daaily
• Michaulmas Die

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 35