Thou vs Ye - What's the difference?
thou | ye |
To address (a person) using the pronoun thou, especially as an expression of familiarity or contempt.
* 1888 , Rudyard Kipling, ‘On the City Wall’, In Black and White , Folio Society 2005, p. 443:
To use the word thou.
(slang) A thousand, especially a thousand dollars, a thousand pounds sterling, etc.
(archaic, outside, Northern England, Cornwall, Ireland) You (the people being addressed).
(obsolete) a (l) person by the use of the (l) (term) instead of thou.
* 1483 , Catholicon Anglicum: An English–Latin Wordbook (Monson 168), page 426
* 1511 , Promptorium Parvulorum (de Worde), sig. M.iii?/2
(archaic, definite) the
* 1647 , The old deluder, Satan, Act''. (cited in ''American Public School Law , K. Alexander, M. Alexander, 1995)
* Ye Olde Medicine Shoppe .
As pronouns the difference between thou and ye
is that thou is while ye is (archaic|outside|northern england|cornwall|ireland) you (the people being addressed).As verbs the difference between thou and ye
is that thou is to address (a person) using the pronoun thou, especially as an expression of familiarity or contempt while ye is (obsolete) a (l) person by the use of the (l) (term) instead of thou.As a noun thou
is a unit of length equal to one-thousandth of an inch or thou can be (slang) a thousand, especially a thousand dollars, a thousand pounds sterling, etc.As an article ye is
(archaic|definite) the.thou
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) thou, thow, thu, ).Alternative forms
* (l), (l), (l), (l)Usage notes
* , as in, for example, “Lovest thou me?” Irregular forms include: (art) (of be), (hast) (of have), shalt (of shall), wost (of (wit)), wilt (of (will)), and (m) (of (m)).Derived terms
* th'art * thou'lt * thou'rt * thou'stSee also
(English personal pronouns)Verb
(en verb)- "One service more, Sahib , since thou hast come so opportunely," said Lalun. "Wilt thou" – it is very nice to be thou-ed by Lalun – "take this old man across the City [...] to the Kumharsen Gate?"
- I thou thee, thou traitor! (Edward Coke to Walter Raleigh)
- Avaunt, caitiff, dost thou thou me! I am come of good kin, I tell thee!'' (The morality play ''Hickscorner , ca. 1530)
- If thou thou'st him some thrice, it shall not be amiss''[...] (''Twelfth Night'' 3.2, Sir Toby Belch to Sir Andrew, egging him on to pick a fight with another, where one would expect one knight courteously to say to another, "If ''you thou him...").
- Don't thou''' them as '''thous thee! (Yorkshire English admonition to overly familiar children)
Antonyms
*Etymology 2
Shortened from thousandth.Synonyms
* mil (US)Etymology 3
Shortened from thousand.Noun
(thou)ye
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) ye, . See also you.Alternative forms
* (chiefly in Middle English)Pronoun
Usage notes
was originally used only for the nominative case (as the subject), and only for the second-person plural. Later, ye was used as a subject or an object, either singular or plural, which is the way that you is used today.Derived terms
* d'ye * hear ye * ye'd * ye gods * ye'll * ye're * ye'veReferences
*Verb
- To ?e , vosare jn plurali numero vos vestrum vel tibi'' [''perh. read vobis].
- Yeyn or sey ye with worshyp, viso .
Synonyms
* (l) (obsolete)Antonyms
* (l) (obsolete)Etymology 2
From (etyl) , but the letters were conflated when that was dropped.Article
(head)- It being one cheife proiect of ye''' ould deluder, Satan, to keepe men from the knowledge of v Scriptures, as in formr times by keeping ym in an unknowne tongue, so in these lattr times by perswading from '''ye''' use of tongues, yt so at least '''ye''' true sence & meaning of '''ye''' originall might be clouded by false glosses of saint seeming deceivers, yt learning may not be buried in '''ye church and commonwealth, the Lord assisting or endeavors,—