Etymologically
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thou

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 13:18. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ðaʊ/, /ðuː/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English þū (“thou”),[2][3][4][5] from Proto-Germanic *þū,[2][3] source also of Dutch and German du, Old Norse þú and Gothic þu,[3][4] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *tu (“you (singular)”), also the source of Latin tu, Greek sy (Doric ty), Lithuanian tù, Old Church Slavonic ty and Sanskrit tvam.[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The second person singular pronoun: about 725, in Beowulf, in Barnhart; about 825 in the OED.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

It was superseded in Middle English by the plural you, from a different root, but kept in some dialects and by the early Quakers.[3] The plural was used first to superiors, then to strangers and finally to all equals; by about 1450 thou, used to inferiors, carried a tinge of insult unless between parents and children or intimates.[3] Hence the verb to thou someone (mid-15th century).[3][6] Archaic language preserves forms such as artou and hastou.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – thou.[2]
  • c. 1440 – to thou, address as thou (verb).[6]
  • c. 1450 – thou to inferiors felt as insulting.[3]

Modern meaning

Pronoun

  1. (archaic or dialect) you, used to address one person, as the subject of a verb, especially in literary, liturgical or devotional language.

Verb

  1. To address someone as thou.

Word family

  • holier-than-thou

Usage notes

A colloquial thou, short for thousand, especially a thousandth of an inch, is from 1867.[6][5][7]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press