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

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

Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?

From Los Angeles Times

Ho quoted from the Bible, Matthew 7:7—“Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”

From Salon

Another letter from James between the lovers in 1623 said, "God bless you, my sweet child and wife, and grant that ye may ever be a comfort to your dear father and husband."

From Salon

"Then, before ye know it," the subtitled video goes on, "ye've committed a hate crime."

From BBC