thou

¹

[ thou ]

pronoun

plural: you or yeobjective: you or yepossessive: your or yoursobjective: theepossessive: thy or thinesingular: thou

1. Archaic except in some elevated or ecclesiastical prose. the second person singular subject pronoun, equivalent to modern you (used to denote the person or thing addressed):

   Thou shalt not kill.

2. (used by Quakers ) a familiar form of address of the second person singular:

   Thou needn’t apologize.

verb (used with object)

1. to address as “thou,” especially during an era of historical English when “thou” was distinguished as an informal form of you:

   It would have been scandalous for household staff to thou the lord of the manor.

verb (used without object)

1. to use “thou” in discourse:

   There are still Quakers who thou as a matter of custom.

thou

²

[ thou ]

noun

, Slang.

, plural thous, (as after a numeral) thou.

1. one thousand dollars, pounds, etc.

thou

¹

/ ðaʊ /

pronoun

1. archaic.
   refers to the person addressed: used mainly in familiar address or to a younger person or inferior
2. usually capital refers to God when addressed in prayer, etc

thou

²

/ θaʊ /

noun

1. one thousandth of an inch. 1 thou is equal to 0.0254 millimetre
2. informal.
   short for thousand

Word History and Origins

Origin of thou¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English thū; cognate with German, Middle Dutch du, Old Norse thū, Gothic thu, Old Irish tú, Welsh, Cornish ti, Latin tū, Doric Greek tý, Lithuanian tù, Old Church Slavonic ty; akin to Sanskrit tvam; (verb) late Middle English thowen, derivative of the pronoun

Origin of thou²

First recorded in 1865–70; by shortening

Word History and Origins

Origin of thou¹

Old English thū; related to Old Saxon thū, Old High German du, Old Norse thū, Latin tū, Doric Greek tu

Example Sentences

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

All of those candidate contortions bring to mind a line from Hamlet: To thine own self be true.

From Los Angeles Times

Yes, the Trumps are sending a "sexual freedom for me, but not for thee" message.

From Salon

Carpenter then purposefully make fun of the outrageousness of her desire for her partner, when she busts out a line from what feels like a Shakespearean sonnet, “Where art thou? Why not uponeth me?”

From Salon

Her sister Maya, 57, also spoke on thee night, saying their mother had been a "trailblazer", having set "great expectations of us".

From BBC