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Etymology and origin of the English word the

English has two words spelled the: the definite article, and the adverb of the more the merrier.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

  • /ðə/, /ði/[4]

the1 definite article

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 950
Inherited from
Old English þe via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *so-

Etymology

The definite article is inherited from Middle English the,[5][3] inherited from Old English þē, a late form that replaced sē, the nominative masculine of the demonstrative pronoun and adjective,[2][1][6][3] and in time also the feminine sēo and the neuter þæt, the ancestor of that.[6][7] Most dictionaries explain the new form as an alteration of the older one, under the influence of the oblique cases that began with þ-, such as þæs and þǣm, and of the neuter.[3][1][8][2] Ayto thinks it probably an eroded form of that, perhaps the same word as the relative particle of that period,[7] and Weekley also called it a weakened that.[9] The new form arose in Northumbrian and North Mercian.[10][11] The whole set goes back to Proto-Germanic *sa, feminine *sō, neuter *þat,[6][12] and is cognate with Old Dutch thē, Old Saxon thē, Old Frisian thī, Dutch de, Old High German der, German der, Old Norse sá and Gothic 𐍃𐌰 (sa).[13] Further back it is from Proto-Indo-European *so- (“this, that”),[2][8][12] the source of Ancient Greek ὁ (ho).[12][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pointing to a particular person or thing that is known or has been named: about 950.[1][2] The OED's first quotation for this ordinary use before a noun is from the Old English Lindisfarne Gospels, at Matthew ii. 9.[13]

Semantic evolution

Old English had about ten forms for "the", and did not separate "the" from "that".[2] When grammatical gender began to die out in early Middle English, the became the general form,[7] and the s- forms had gone by the mid-13th century, lasting a little longer in the dialect of Kent.[2] That survived for a time as an article before vowels, as in that one and that other, which were later divided as the tone and the tother.[2][9] Middle English spellings include de, þeo, te and, in the north and north Midlands, ye.[5] Benson's concordance counts it 12,681 times in Chaucer.[14] Johnson (1755) defined it as the article that marks a particular thing, and compared Dutch de.[15] A stressed use meaning "the pre-eminent, the most desirable" is recorded by 1824, and its use with relations, as in the wife, by 1838.[2] English dialects have many reduced forms, among them d’, da, de, t’ and te, recorded across Scotland, Ireland, England and America.[16]

Timeline

  • c. 950 – þē begins to displace sē, sēo and þæt.[2][1]
  • mid-13th century – the s- forms are gone.[2]
  • 15th century – for each, as in a price per unit.[3]
  • 1576 – before numerals denoting years.[13]
  • 1824 – stressed, the pre-eminent or most desirable.[2]
  • 1838 – with relations, as in the wife.[2]

Meanings

Article

  1. Marking a noun as someone or something already mentioned or clear from the situation: Please feed the dog.[3][17][13]
  2. Marking a noun as a particular one, set apart by the words that follow it: the book on the top shelf.[17][8]
  3. Before a noun that names something unique, or thought of as unique: the sun, the earth.[13]
  4. Before names of seasons and natural phenomena: the spring, the wind.[13]
  5. Before names of some geographical features, such as rivers and mountain ranges: the Danube.[13]
  6. Stressed, marking someone or something as the most outstanding of its kind: This is the café to visit, with the stressed.[8][2]
  7. For each, in prices and rates: three dollars the kilo.[3]

the2 adverb, as in the more the merrier

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
899 before 899, Alfred's translation of Gregory's Pastoral Care
Inherited from
Old English þy via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *to-

Etymology

The adverb is inherited from Middle English the,[5][3] inherited from Old English þȳ, also þē,[8][3][18][10] originally an instrumental case of the demonstrative, usually given as the neuter that, þæt.[19][8][3][2] The OED is more cautious, calling it probably a case form, perhaps the neuter instrumental, of the Germanic demonstrative base, and notes that Old English also used þon in the same construction.[13][6] The American Heritage Dictionary takes the neuter back to Proto-Indo-European *to-.[8] Weekley compares German desto.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

By that much, with a comparative: before 899, in Alfred's translation of Gregory's Pastoral Care.[19][13]

Semantic evolution

The instrumental originally meant "by that", "because of that",[3] and in Old English the word could also mean "for that reason" or "because", uses that were gone by about 1225.[13] The construction with a comparative survived, and correlative pairs, in which one change is measured against another, are recorded from about 1325, in the Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester.[13] Etymonline glosses them as "by how much more, by so much more".[2] Set phrases came later: the less said the better is recorded from the 1680s and the sooner the better by 1771.[2]

Timeline

  • before 899 – with a comparative, by that much.[19][13]
  • Old English to 1225 – for that reason, therefore (obsolete).[13]
  • c. 1325 – the correlative the … the ….[13]
  • 1680s – the less said the better.[2]
  • 1771 – the sooner the better.[2]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Before a comparative, by that much or than before: He felt all the better for his walk.[3][6]
  2. In the pair the … the …, showing that one thing changes in step with another: the more the merrier, the sooner the better.[1][3][13]

Word family

Usage notes

Before a consonant sound the article is usually /ðə/ and before a vowel sound /ði/, sometimes /ðɪ/; said with stress or cited as a word it is usually /ði/, although younger speakers often use a stressed /ðʌ/.[20] The Shorter Oxford records the mock-archaic spelling ye, and the MED lists ye as a northern and north Midland Middle English spelling of the article.[10][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  6. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  8. ^ a b c d e f g The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  10. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  14. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  16. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  17. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  18. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  19. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  20. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House

Related etymologies

  • tor · also from Old English
  • lea · also from Old English
  • wary · also from Old English
  • needy · also from Old English
  • orchard · also from Old English
  • arse · also from Old English
  • colt · also from Old English
  • hog · also from Old English
Cite this entry

“The.” Etymologically, 5 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/the. Accessed 5 Nov. 2026.

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