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they

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See also:Theyandþey

English

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EnglishWikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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  • Etymology tree
    Proto-Indo-European*tóy
    Proto-Germanic*þai
    Proto-Norse*ᚦᚨᛁᛉ(*þaiʀ)
    Old Norseþeirbor.
    Middle Englishþei
    Englishthey

    FromMiddle Englishþei, borrowed in the 1200s fromOld Norseþeir,[1] plural of the demonstrativesá which acted as a plural pronoun. Displaced nativeMiddle Englishhe fromOld Englishhīe — which vowel changes had left indistinct fromhe(“he”) — by the 1400s,[1][2][3] being readily incorporated alongside native words beginning with the same sound (the,that,this). Used as a singular pronoun since 1300,[1] e.g. in the 1325Cursor Mundi.

    The Norse term (whence alsoIcelandicþeir(“they”),Faroeseteir(“they”),Danishde(“they”),Swedishde(“they”),Norwegian Nynorskdei(“they”)) is fromProto-Germanic*þai(“those”) (fromProto-Indo-European*to-(“that”)), whence alsoOld Englishþā(“those”) (whence obsolete Englishtho),Scotsthae,thai,thay(“they; those”).

    (American linguistJohn McWhorter rejects this and suggests thatthey,them, andtheir are native English instead, from Old Englishþā,þām,þāra.[4])

    The origin of the determinerthey(“the, those”) is unclear. TheOED,English Dialect Dictionary andMiddle English Dictionary[5] define it and its Middle English predecessorthei as a demonstrative determiner or adjective meaning “those” or “the”. This could be a continuation of the use of the English pronounthey's Old Norse etymonþeir as a demonstrative meaning “those”, but theOED andEDD say it is limited to southern, especially southwestern, England, specifically outside the region of Norse contact.

    Pronoun

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    they (third-person, nominative case, usually plural, sometimes singular,objective casethem,possessivetheir,possessive nountheirs,reflexivethemselves,or reflexive singularthemself)

    2. (the third-person plural nominative) A group of entities previously mentioned.[since 13th c.]
      Fred and Jane?They just arrived.
      Dogs may bark ifthey want to be fed.
      Plants wilt ifthey are not watered.
      I have a car and a truck, butthey are both broken.
      • 1611,King James Bible:
        But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that boththey that have wives be as thoughthey had none; Andthey that weep, as thoughthey wept not; Andthey that rejoice, as thoughthey rejoiced not; Andthey that buy, as though they possessed not; Andthey that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away
      • 1620,Giovanni Bocaccio, translated byJohn Florio,The Decameron, Containing an Hundred Pleaſant Nouels: Wittily Diſcourſed, Betweene Seuen Honourable Ladies, and Three Noble Gentlemen‎[1], Isaac Iaggard, Nouell 8, The Eighth Day:
        […]purſued his vnneighbourly purpoſe in ſuch ſort: that hee being the ſtronger perſwader, and ſhe (belike) too credulous in beleeuing or elſe ouer-feeble in reſiſting, from priuate imparlance,they fell to action; and continued their cloſe fight a long while together, vnſeene and vvithout ſuſpition, no doubt to their equall ioy and contentment.
      • 2010,Iguana Invasion!: Exotic Pets Gone Wild in Florida,→ISBN, page 9:
        There is no reason to be scared of iguanas.They do not attack humans.
    4. (the third-person singular nominative, occasionally proscribed) A single person, previously mentioned, whosegender is unknown, irrelevant, or(since 20th c.)non-binary.[since 14th c.]
      Somebody requested a seat at Friday's performance but didn't say ifthey preferred the balcony or the floor.
      If someone enters the restricted area,they are required to present identification.
      I asked my friend ifthey wanted to come, butthey said no.
      One of the boys tripped over, andthey hit their head on the door.
      • 1611,The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […],→OCLC,Deuteronomy17:5:
        Then shalt thou bring forth that man, or that woman (which haue committed that wicked thing) vnto thy gates, euen that man, or that woman, and shalt stonethem with stones tillthey die.
      • 1997,J. K. Rowling, chapter 10, inHarry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, (quoted edition: London: Bloomsbury, 2000,→ISBN, page187):
        Someone knocked into Harry asthey hurried past him. It was Hermione.
      • 2008,Michelle Obama, quoted inLisa Rogak,Michelle Obama in Her Own Words, New York, NY: PublicAffairs, 2009.→ISBN, page 18:
        One thing a nominee earns is the right to pick the vice president thatthey think will best reflect their vision of the country, and I am just glad I will have nothing to do with it.
      • 2014, Ivan E. Coyote, Rae Spoon,Gender Failure,→ISBN:
        The boycott, led by Elisha Lim, of a Toronto gay and lesbian newspaper after it refused to usetheir preferred pronoun ["they"], citing grammar considerations, inspired me.
      • 2015 April,Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (mayor of Baltimore), commenting on the death of Freddie Gray:
        I'm angry that we're here again, that we have had to tell another mother thattheir child is dead.
      • 2019 May 29, Amy Harmon, “Which Box Do You Check? Some States Are Offering a Nonbinary Option”, inThe New York Times‎[2], archived fromthe original on8 June 2019:
        Ever since El Martinez started asking to be called by the gender-neutral pronouns “they/them” in the ninth grade,they have fielded skepticism in a variety of forms and from a multitude of sources about what it means to identify as nonbinary.
      • For more quotations using this term, seeCitations:they.
    6. (indefinite pronoun, vague meaning) People; some people; people in general; someone, excluding the speaker.
      Coordinate terms:one,generic you
      They say it’s a good place to live.
      They didn’t have computers in the old days.
      They don't make 'em likethey used to.
      • 1986 February 16,William Safire, “On Language; Moon Of My Delight”, inThe New York Times‎[3],→ISSN,→OCLC, archived fromthe original on24 May 2015, Section 6 / Magazine, page10:
        Always get a second source,they tell us in investigative lexicography;[…]
      • 2002,Linda Perry, “Beautiful”, inStripped, performed byChristina Aguilera:
        I am beautiful, no matter whatthey say
      • 2025 March 11, Lauren Smiley, “The Worst 7 Years in Boeing’s History—and the Man Who Won’t Stop Fighting for Answers. Fatal crashes. A door blowout. Grounded planes. Inside the citizen-led, obsessive campaign to hold Boeing accountable and prevent the next disaster”, inWired‎[4]:
        Hurtling through the air that evening in seat 10C, I read the US House committee’s Max investigation, a disruptor of illusions. Like many fliers, I’d long ago made my bargain with risk. I’d taken comfort in statistics, summoned faith in the engineers and assembly workers, the pilots, the system. I’d shunted away the knowledge—paralyzing, if you let it in—that stepping on an airplane is an extraordinary act of trust. Deep in the report, I reached the part about a senior manager at Boeing’s factory in Renton, a guy named Ed Pierson, who seemingly knew what we all know when we soothe ourselves by thinking,They wouldn’t let it fly if it weren’t safe. We’re all relying on someone to be the “they.”
    8. (indefinite pronoun) The authorities, the (power) elites, thepowers that be, theestablishment,the man, thesystem: government, police, employers, etc.
      They'll tax us for the air we breathe next.
      They should increase our wages.
      Ha, you believe the moon is real? That's just whatthey want you to think.
    9. (bridge) The opponents of the side which iskeeping score.
      Antonym:we
    Usage notes
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    • (singular pronoun): Usage ofthey as a singular pronoun began in the 1300s and has been common ever since, despite attempts by some grammarians, beginning in 1795,[6] to condemn it as a violation of traditional (Latinate) agreement rules. Some other grammarians have countered that criticism since at least 1896.[7]Fowler's Modern English Usage (third edition) notes that it "is being left unaltered by copy editors" and is "not widely felt to lie in a prohibited zone". Some authors compare use of singularthey to widespread use of singularyou instead ofthou.[8][9] SeeWikipedia's article on singularthey for more; see also the usage notes aboutthemself. (Comparehe.)
    • (singular pronoun): In the past,they tended to be used of a generic or unidentified person, or someone who was not previously named or identified as male or female. It has increasingly been used to refer to an unnamed person even if the gender of the person is known.
    • (singular pronoun): Even when used as a singular pronoun, in standard English singularthey uses the same verb conjugations as pluralthey, like singular and pluralyou: "George, youwere[notwas] here when the masked figure ran past,were[notwas] they wearing red or blue?"
    • (singular pronoun): Infrequently,they is used of an individual person of known, binary gender. Seecitations.
    • (singular pronoun): Infrequently,they is used of an individual animal which would more commonly be referred to asit. Seecitations.
    • (indefinite pronoun):One is also an indefinite pronoun, but the two words do not mean the same thing and are rarely interchangeable. "They" refers to people in general (hence the expressionsthey say,so they say,you know what they say), whereas "one" refers to one person (often such that what is true for that person is true for everyone).You may also be used to refer to people in general; such use of that pronoun is called thegenericyou.
      They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
      One may say, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
      You may say, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
    Alternative forms
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    Derived terms
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    Related terms
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    Translations
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    third-person plural pronoun
    third-person singular, of unknown, irrelevant, or non-binary gender
    one, people, some people
    See also
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    English personal pronouns

    Dialectal and obsolete or archaic forms are initalics.

    personal pronounpossessive
    pronoun    		possessive
    determiner
    subjectiveobjectivereflexive
    first
    person    		singularI
    me (colloquial)    		memyself
    me
    mysen    		minemy
    mine(before vowels, archaic)
    me
    pluralweusourselves
    ourself
    oursen    		ours
    ourn(obsolete outside dialects)    		our
    second
    person    		singularstandard
    (historically
    formal)    		youyouyourself
    yoursen    		yours
    yourn(obsolete outside dialects)    		your
    archaic
    (historically
    informal)    		thoutheethyself
    theeself
    thysen    		thinethy
    thine(before vowels)
    pluralstandardyou
    ye(archaic)    		youyourselvesyours
    yourn(obsolete outside dialects)    		your
    colloquialyou all
    y'all
    you guys    		you all
    y'all
    you guys    		y'allselvesall yours
    y'all's
    you guys'
    your guys'    		all your
    y'all's
    your all's(nonstandard)
    you guys'
    your guys'
    informal /
    dialectal    		(see list of dialectal forms atyou and inflected forms in those entries)
    third
    person    		singularmasculinehehimhimself
    hisself(archaic)
    hissen    		his
    hisn(obsolete outside dialects)    		his
    femininesheherherself
    hersen    		hers
    hern(obsolete outside dialects)    		her
    neuterit
    hit    		it
    hit    		itself
    hitself    		its
    his(archaic)    		its
    his(archaic)
    hits
    genderless1theythemthemself,themselvestheirstheir
    nonspecific
    (formal)    		oneoneoneself–one's
    pluraltheythem
    hem,'em    		themselves
    theirsen    		theirs
    theirn(obsolete outside dialects)    		their

    Determiner

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    they

    1. (now Southern England dialect or nonstandard)The,those.[from 14th c.]
      • 1878, Louis John Jennings,Field Paths and Green Lanes, quoting an old East Sussex man:
        "They rooks as you see [...] only coom a few year agoo."
      • 1883,Judy, or the London serio-comic journal‎[5], volume33, Harvard University:
        Darn'd ifthey Cockney Chaps can zee there worn't nort but lie in him.
      • 1895,Under the Chilterns: A Story of English Village Life:
        page 21: "But you spile [spoil]they gals - they won't be for no good, they won't."
        page 30: "'Twas all aboutthey rewks [rooks]," he sobbed.
        page 54: "mucking the place up withthey weeds"
      • 1901, Gwendoline Keats (of Devon),Tales of Dunstáble Weir, page 55:
        "Bodies and souls," she cried, "if I didn't reckon to have hiddenthey boots safe from un in the stick-rick." "Off wi'they tight-wasted shoes o' yours, Martha."
      • 1994 [1993],Irvine Welsh,Trainspotting, London: Minerva,→ISBN,page114:
        Forty quid a fuckin ticket. No shythey British Rail cunts, ah kin fuckin tell ye.
    2. (US dialects, including African-American Vernacular)Their.[from 19th c.]
      • 1974, Arthur Hippler,Hunter's Point: a black ghetto in America, page88:
        MARY ELLEN is a different case from the others. She has five children and, she claims: "I don't know whothey father is. I ain't never kept track. They is always another one. You know, I can catch me a guy[.]"
      • 1988 February 7, Mike Riegle, quoting John Royal, “Why Does GCN Have A Prisoner Project?”, inGay Community News, volume15, number29, page10:
        It's a shame to see someone talk so bad about the gays and lesbians in prison. She is brainwash to the fact that she think every gay and lesbian in prison is guilty ofthey crimes.
      • 2002,Eminem,Sing for the Moment:
        But allthey kids be listenin' to me religiously / So I'm signin' CDs while police fingerprint me
      • 2015, “Energy”, inIf You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, performed by Drake:
        I got bitches askin' me about the code for the Wi-Fi / So they can talk aboutthey timeline / And show me pictures ofthey friends
      • 2016,Alan Moore,Jerusalem, Liveright, published2016, page175:
        He guessed one of the well-off people living in these houses must have took a shine to Cody and decided how he'd look good stuck up onthey roof.
    Alternative forms
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    • the(rare, dialect, eye dialect)
    • thay,thaay(Gloucestershire, Berkshire, possibly archaic)

    Verb

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    they (third-person singular simple presenttheys,present participletheying,simple past and past participletheyed)

    1. (transitive) Torefer to (someone, sometimes especially someone who does not usegender-neutral pronouns) usingthey/them pronouns.
      I have a pin that says she/her, but I still gettheyed all the time.

    Etymology 2

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    From earlierthe'e, fromthere.

    Pronoun

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    they

    1. (US dialectal)There(especially as an expletive subject of be).[from 19th c.]
      • 1889,James Whitcomb Riley,Pipes o' Pan:
        They’s music in the twitter of the bluebird and the jay.
      • 1974, Arthur Hippler,Hunter's Point: a black ghetto in America, page88:
        MARY ELLEN is a different case from the others. She has five children and, she claims: "I don't know who they father is. I ain't never kept track.They is always another one. You know, I can catch me a guy[.]"
      • 2000, Janice Giles,Hill Man,page58:
        They ain’t nothin’ wrong with that.
      • 2008, Christian Carvajal,Lightfall,page82:
        Butthey ain’t nothin’ in there you didn’t already have.
      • 2010, Alessandro Portelli,They Say in Harlan County: An Oral History,page207:
        Well,they’s a lot of ‘em didn’t survive, if you believe me.

    References

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    1. ↑1.01.11.2“they”, inThe American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.:Houghton Mifflin Harcourt,2016,→ISBN.
    2. ^Douglas Harper (2001–2025), “they”, inOnline Etymology Dictionary.
    3. ^Otto Jespersen,Growth and Structure of the English Language
    4. ^John McWhorter (2025),Pronoun Trouble, pages156–159
    5. ^“thei,pron.”, inMED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.:University of Michigan,2007, retrieved28 January 2016.
    6. ^Anne Bodine,Androcentrism in Prescriptive Grammar: Singular 'they', Sex-indefinite 'he', and 'he or she', inLanguage in Society, v. 4 (1975), pages 129–146
    7. ^William Malone Baskervill and James Witt Sewell'sAn English Grammar (1896) says singularthey is "frequently foundwhen the antecedent includes or implies both genders. The masculine does not really represent a feminine antecedent"; it furthermore recommends changing it tohe orshe "unless both genders are implied". (Italics in original.)
    8. ^Michael Reed,Tech Book 1→ISBN,Note about pronoun usage, page 9: "Singularthey can introduce some ambiguity because the antecedent of the pronoun “they” could theoretically be a male or female [... but] English has survived the loss of pronouns such asthou (singularyou) despite the consequent potential for ambiguity."
    9. ^John McWhorter,Word on the Street: Debunking the Myth of a Pure Standard (2009,→ISBN: "In this light, our modern grammarians' discomfort with singularthey is nothing but this comical intermediate stage in an inevitable change, as misguided and futile as the old grumbles about singularyou."

    Anagrams

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    Middle English

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    Etymology 1

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    Pronoun

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    they

    1. alternative form ofþei(“they”)

    Etymology 2

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    Determiner

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    they

    1. alternative form ofþi(“thy”)

    Etymology 3

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    Pronoun

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    they

    1. alternative form ofþe(“thee”)

    Etymology 4

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    Noun

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    they (pluralþeies)

    1. alternative spelling ofþey(“thigh”)

    Etymology 5

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    Adverb

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    they

    1. alternative spelling ofþey(“though”)

    Conjunction

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    they

    1. alternative spelling ofþey(“though”)

    Etymology 6

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    Numeral

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    they

    1. alternative spelling ofþey(“two”)
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