we

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English we,^[2][3] inherited from Old English wē,^[4][3][5][6] from Proto-West Germanic *wiʀ,^[1] from Proto-Germanic *wīz.^[1][7][4][6] Etymonline writes the Germanic form as *wejes and Orel as *wez, with the final consonant secondary.^[8][9] The OED says that West Germanic had by-forms with *i and *e; the Old English form continues the one with *e, having lost the final *z, and its long vowel is a stressed variant that developed in English, although the length usually cannot be determined in Old English.^[10] Cognates are Old Frisian wī, Old Saxon wī, Dutch wij, Old High German wir, German wir, Old Norse vér, Danish vi, Swedish vi and Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍃 (weis).^[10][4][6] Further back they are related to Sanskrit वयम् (vayám), Avestan vaēm, Tocharian A was, Tocharian B wes and Hittite wēš,^[9][4][10] all from Proto-Indo-European *wéy,^[1] which Barnhart writes *wei- and Kroonen *ueies.^[4][7] Ayto says that the process leading to the Germanic forms has never been unravelled.^[11] A related dual form, "we two", is Old English wit, with Lithuanian vėdu outside Germanic.^[4] The nominative was accompanied by the oblique form *uns, the source of us, which is related to Latin nōs,^[7][9] and many other Indo-European languages use forms based on the oblique stem even for the subject.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The speaker with one or more others: about 725, in Beowulf.^[4][8][10] Bosworth–Toller records it of both two people and many.^[12]

Semantic evolution

Besides its basic meaning, the pronoun has long been used for someone other than the group speaking.^[10] Barnhart finds a sovereign's we already in Beowulf,^[4] and Etymonline agrees;^[8] the OED's current text starts it with Ælfric,^[10] while its 1989 edition had it only about 1425.^[13] A writer's we, used to sound impersonal or to avoid repeating I, goes back to Alfred's translation of Orosius, before 899.^[4][10] It was especially common in unsigned 19th-century editorials, where it suggested a staff consensus, and it was mocked by 1833 in weism and wegotism.^[8] The general we for people at large is also Old English, in Ælfric.^[10] The we for the person addressed, associated especially with doctors, is recorded from 1702, in Vanbrugh's False Friend.^[10] A paired we and they for two opposed groups is recorded from 1884 in the 1989 edition of the OED,^[13] and by 1926 in Etymonline.^[8] Johnson (1755) condemned we as an object, quoting Shakespeare's "To poor we", as improper and ungrammatical.^[14]

Timeline

• c. 725 – the speaker with one or more others, in Beowulf.^[4][8][10]
• before 899 – a single writer referring to himself, in Alfred's Orosius.^[4][10]
• Old English – following a verb, with the force of "let us", in the Blickling Homilies (now rare).^[10]
• Old English – people in general, in Ælfric's Catholic Homilies.^[10]
• before 1555 – after a form of be, as in "it is we".^[10]
• 1576 – with an adjective before it, in poetry (now rare).^[10]
• 1702 – meaning the person addressed.^[10]
• by 1833 – the editors' we, mocked as weism and wegotism.^[8]
• 1884 – paired with they for opposed groups.^[13] Etymonline dates this by 1926.^[8]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. The speaker or writer together with one or more other people: We should leave before the rain starts.^[15][16][10]
2. People in general, including the speaker: the world we live in.^[15][10]
3. Used by a single writer or speaker in place of I, for an impersonal style, as by an editor: the editorial we.^[15][10][4]
4. Used by a sovereign of himself or herself: the royal we.^[15][10][4]
5. Used in place of you, with a persuasive or condescending tone, especially by doctors: And how are we feeling this morning?^[15][10]
6. (dialect) Used as an emphatic object, in place of us: He never comes to see the likes of we.^[17][10]

Noun

1. A group felt as such by its own members.^[16]

Related words

• us
• our

Usage notes

The Century Dictionary, quoted by Etymonline, compares the vague uses of we and they for people in general, as with French on or German man: a speaker who says we more or less identifies with the statement, and one who says they does not.^[8] Wright records the dialect forms oo (Selkirk and Roxburgh), wa (Scotland, Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire) and wi (Northumberland, Lancashire, Cheshire, Shropshire and elsewhere).^[17] Quite separately, we was an exclamation of uncertain origin from before 1400 to 1500,^[10] and a call to a horse to stop in Ireland, Cumberland, Leicestershire and Hampshire.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 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 l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
12. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
13. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
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. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
17. ^ a b c 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)