ye

¹

[ yee ]

pronoun

1. Archaic, except in some elevated or ecclesiastical prose Literary, or British Dialect.
   1. (used nominatively as the plural of thou especially in rhetorical, didactic, or poetic contexts, in addressing a group of persons or things):

      O ye of little faith; ye brooks and hills.

   2. (used nominatively for the second person singular, especially in polite address):

      Do ye not know me?

   3. (used objectively in the second person singular or plural):

      I have something to tell ye. Arise, the enemy is upon ye!

2. (used with mock seriousness in an invocation, mild oath, or the like):

   Ye gods and little fishes!

ye

²

[ thee; spelling pronunciation yee ]

definite article

, Archaic.

1. the ¹.

ye

¹

/ jɪ; jiː /

pronoun

1. archaic.
   refers to more than one person including the person addressed but not including the speaker
2. dialect.
   Alsoeeiː refers to one person addressed

   I tell ye

ye

²

/ jiː; ðiː /

determiner

1. a form of the, used in conjunction with other putative archaic spellings

   ye olde oake

ye

³

the internet domain name for

1. Yemen

Spelling Note

The word ye2 , as in Ye Olde Booke Shoppe, is simply an archaic spelling of the definite article the. The use of the letter Y was a printer's adaptation of the thorn, þ, the character in the Old English alphabet representing the th- sounds (th) and (th̸) in Modern English; Y was the closest symbol in the Roman alphabet. Originally, the form would have been rendered as  or ye. The pronunciation [yee] today is a spelling pronunciation.

Word History and Origins

Origin of ye¹

before 900; Middle English; Old English gē; cognate with Dutch gij, German ihr, Old Norse ēr, Gothic jus

Word History and Origins

Origin of ye¹

Old English gē; related to Dutch gij, Old Norse ēr, Gothic jus

Origin of ye²

from a misinterpretation of the as written in some Middle English texts. The runic letter thorn (Þ, representing th ) was incorrectly transcribed as y because of a resemblance in their shapes

Example Sentences

“You're going to have a government, I suspect, that is going to have a little bit of something for everyone,” says Robin Ye, who co-chaired the city council charter revision committee.

From Salon

That’s enough of a red flag by itself, but JP’s 24/7 style commitment to stars, stripes and ye olde red, white and blue had viewers scouring footage for signs of a telltale scarlet cap.

From Salon

A former employee of rapper Kanye West and his Yeezy apparel brand is suing him for labor-code violations and infliction of emotional distress, alleging that Ye threatened to kill him as “he spiraled into conspiracy theories and erratic, reckless and dangerous behavior,” the employee’s attorney said Thursday.

From Los Angeles Times

The anonymous employee identified himself as a Michigan resident who was hired by Ye as a deputy campaign director after the rapper’s unsuccessful 2020 presidential bid, according to the civil lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

From Los Angeles Times

The employee, a military veteran diagnosed with PTSD, also served as “director of intelligence” for Yeezy, charged with conducting various investigations, including those involving attorneys and parties that filed suit against Yeezy, Ye and related entities, the complaint said.

From Los Angeles Times