this

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English this,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English þis,^[5][6][7] the neuter of the demonstrative whose masculine is þēs and whose feminine is þēos.^[5][6][4] It is cognate with Old Frisian this, Old Saxon these, Dutch deze, Old High German dese, German dieser and Old Norse þessi.^[5][6][7] These all go back to a prehistoric pronoun built on the demonstrative base Proto-Germanic *þa-, the source also of that, the and there,^[8][6][9] which is the stem of *þat,^[1][10] related to Proto-Indo-European *tód.^[1][10] The OED explains the longer forms as an expansion of the simple demonstrative by a reinforcing particle, *-si or *-se,^[5][8] which runic inscriptions, chiefly from Denmark and Sweden, show still uninflected in þat-si.^[5] The particle is probably the same as sē (“the”),^[6][7][4] though it has also been identified with sēo, the imperative of see.^[6][7] The OED calls the details of the development uncertain and disputed.^[5] The adverb is apparently the pronoun in adverbial use, perhaps from the neuter accusative and the instrumental þȳs,^[5][9][11] and in some uses, especially in Scots, it is probably a variant of thus.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a demonstrative pronoun, Barnhart dates the word to probably 670,^[7] Dictionary.com to before 900 and Merriam-Webster to before the 12th century.^[11][4] The OED has it in early Old English, in the Vespasian Psalter and the Old English Orosius, and in the inscription on the Kirkdale sundial in Yorkshire.^[5] The adjectival use follows before 899, in Alfred's translation of Orosius.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The Old English word was fully inflected, with ten distinct forms, and its oblique cases and other genders fell away by the 15th century,^[6][7] leaving this as the only singular.^[7] Hoad dates the generalised form to about 1200.^[9] The plural was reshaped at the same time: about 1175 thes, probably a variant of þæs, began to serve as the plural of this and by 1200 had become these, while the southern form thos passed from late in the 13th century to the plural of that, as those.^[6][7][12] From about 1400 this could also stand before a plural noun treated as a single period,^[13] and Johnson (1755) quoted Macbeth: "Within this three mile may you see it coming".^[14] The contrast with that gave the pair this and that, one thing and another, from about 1325,^[5] and, in a use now obsolete, this for "the latter" beside that for "the former".^[5] As an adverb, this meant "in this way, thus" only until 1600,^[5][13] while "to this extent" survives in phrases such as this much.^[5][9] Before a date it is now rare and archaic, kept in legal or formal documents.^[13] English dialects had reduced forms, dis in Shetland and -s in Dorset and West Somerset, a genitive this's in Leicestershire and Warwickshire, and the reinforced this here.^[15] Used for a person, the word now names someone present or on the telephone, and always as the subject of be.^[5][16]

Timeline

• c. 670 – demonstrative pronoun, neuter of þēs.^[7]
• before 899 – adjectival use.^[7]
• c. 1175 – thes as the plural, later these.^[6]
• c. 1325 – this and that, one thing and another.^[5]
• c. 1375 – adverb.^[7] The OED's first record of the sense "to this extent" is c. 1400.^[5][13]
• c. 1400 – with a plural noun, instead of these.^[13]
• c. 1440 – the latter, opposite that (obsolete by 1868).^[5]
• before 1450 – adverb, in this way, thus (obsolete by 1600).^[5][13]
• c. 1454 – this much.^[5]
• 1562 – before the current date, in formal documents.^[13]
• 1668 – placed after the noun in the predicate, as in quite a find, this.^[5]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. The person, thing or idea that is present, near, or just mentioned: This is my brother's bicycle.^{[3][4][17][5]}
2. The nearer or more immediate of two, in contrast with that: This costs more than that.^[3][5]
3. What is about to be said or named: Wait until you hear this.^[3][5]
4. After a preposition, the present time or the time just mentioned: She ought to have phoned by this.^[3][5]
5. On the telephone, the person speaking: This is Anna.^[5][16]

Determiner

1. Marking the person or thing that is present or nearer: This coat fits better than that one.^[17][4]
2. Marking something just mentioned or understood: This idea of yours will never work.^[17][4]
3. Marking something about to be said or read.^[17]
4. Marking the present or nearest period of time: this winter.^[4]

Adverb

1. To the degree shown or implied: I had not expected the climb to be this steep.^[4][5]
2. (obsolete, 1450–1600) In this way; thus.^[4][5]

Noun

1. One of a pair or series, usually the first, in contrast with that: this and that.^[4][5]

Related words

• that
• these
• those
• the
• there
• thus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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)
3. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ a b c d e f g Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ 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)
16. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
17. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins