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FromСредњи Енглескиþei, borrowed in the 1200s fromOld Norseþeir,^[1] plural of the demonstrativesá which acted as a plural pronoun. Displaced nativeСредњи Енглескиhe fromСтари Енглескиhīe — 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”),Данскиde(“they”),Шведскиde(“they”),Norwegian Nynorskdei(“they”)) is fromПра-Германски*þai(“those”) (fromProto-Indo-European*to-(“that”)), whence alsoСтари Енглескиþā(“those”) (whence obsolete Englishtho),Шкотскиthae,thai,thay(“they; those”).

The origin of the determinerthey(“the, those”) is unclear. TheOED,English Dialect Dictionary andMiddle English Dictionary^[4] 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

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

(the third-person plural nominative) A group of people, animals, or entities previously mentioned.[since the 1200s]
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.
- Lua грешка in Модул:quote at line 2964: Parameter "trans" is not used by this template..
- 2010,Iguana Invasion!: Exotic Pets Gone Wild in Florida→ISBN 1561644684, page 9:
  There is no reason to be scared of iguanas.They do not attack humans.
(the third-person singular nominative, occasionally proscribed) A single person, previously mentioned, especially if of unknown ornon-binarygender, but typically not if previously named and identified as male or female.[since the 1300s]
They requested a seat at Friday's performance but didn't say ifthey preferred the balcony or the floor.
- 1611,The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: ByRobert Barker, […],→OCLC,Deuteronomy 17:5:
  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 978 1 58648 762 1, 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 1551525372
  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.
- For more examples of usage of this term, seeЦитати:they.
(indefinite pronoun, vague meaning) People; some people; people in general; someone, excluding the speaker.
They say it’s a good place to live.
They didn’t have computers in the old days.
They should increase our wages.
Ha, you believe the moon is real? That's just whatthey want you to think.
Координатни термини:one,generic you

Usage notes

(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,^[5] to condemn it as a violation of traditional (Latinate) agreement rules. Some other grammarians have countered that criticism since at least 1896.^[6]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.^[7]^[8] SeeWikipedia's article on singular they for more; see also the usage notes aboutthemself. (Comparehe.)
(singular pronoun): Even when used as a singular pronoun, verb conjugations for singularthey are the same as for pluralthey.
(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

(rare, dialect or eye dialect:)dey(th-stopping dialects),thay,theye(archaic),thaay(Gloucestershire, Berkshire, possibly archaic)

Translations

third-person plural pronoun

Abkhaz:дара(dārā)
Adyghe:ахэр(axɛr)
Afar:usun
Afrikaans:hulle (af) pl
Akan:wɔn(animate),ɛno(inanimate)
Albanian:ata (sq) m pl,ato (sq) f pl
Alviri-Vidari:اووا(uvā)
Amharic:እነሱ(ʾənäsu)
Arabic:(dual)هُمَا(humā),هُم (ar) pl(hum),هُنَّ (ar) f pl(hunna),(non-human)هِيَ (ar)(hiya)
Egyptian Arabic:هما(humma),هم m pl(humm)
Levantine Arabic:هن pl(hinne),هم pl(humme)
Gulf Arabic:اهم(uhum, uhmə)
Tunisian Arabic:هُمَا m pl or f pl(humā)
Aragonese:els,ellos(masculine),ellas(feminine)
Armenian:նրանք (hy)(nrankʿ)
Old Armenian:նոքա(nokʿa)
Aromanian:nãsh m pl,nãse f pl,nãsi f pl,elj m pl,eali f pl,eli f pl
Assamese:সিহঁত(xihõt)(distal),ইহঁত(ihõt)(proximal),তেওঁলোক(teü̃lük)(distal, polite),এওঁলোক(eü̃lük)(proximal, polite)
Asturian:ellos (ast) m pl,elles (ast) f pl
Aymara:jupanaka
Azerbaijani:onlar (az)
Bambara:u
Bashkir:улар(ular)
Basque:haiek
Belarusian:яны́ (be)(janý)
Bengali:তারা(tara)
Breton:i (br),int (br)
Bulgarian:те (bg)(te)
Burmese:သူတို့(sutui.),သူများ (my)(su-mya:)
Buryat:тэдэ(tede)
Catalan:ells (ca) m pl,elles (ca) f pl
Chechen:уьш(üš),уьзуш(üzuš)
Chichewa:iwo
Chinese:
Cantonese:(vernacular)佢哋(keoi⁵ dei⁶),(literary)他們／他们,他们(taa¹ mun⁴)
Dungan:таму(tamu),ана(ana)
Gan:佢們／佢们,佢们(qie² miin),渠們／渠们,渠们(qie² miin)
Jin:他們／他们,他们(ta¹ me)
Mandarin:他們／他们 (zh),他们 (zh)(tāmen),(females only)她們／她们 (zh),她们 (zh)(tāmen),(non-human)它們／它们 (zh),它们 (zh)(tāmen)
Min Dong:伊各儂／伊各侬,伊各侬(ĭ-gáuk-nè̤ng)
Min Nan:𪜶 (zh-min-nan)(in)
Teochew:𪜶 (zh-min-nan)(ing1),伊儂／伊侬(i1 nang5)
Wu:伊拉(hhi la, hhi laq)(Shanghai)
Xiang:他們／他们,他们(ta¹ men)
Chuvash:вӗсем(vĕsem)
Cornish:i,jei,anjei
Czech:oni (cs),ony (cs)
Dalmatian:jali m pl,jale f pl
Danish:de (da)
Dhivehi:އެ މީހުން(e mīhun)
Dutch:zij (nl),ze (nl)
Dyirbal:not used in Dyirbal(Dyirbal has no third-person pronoun)
Dzongkha:ཁོང(khong)
Egyptian:(suffix pronoun)

(.sn),(Late Egyptian suffix pronoun)

(.w),(enclitic pronoun)

(sn),(stressed pronoun)

(ntsn)
Erzya:сынь(synʹ)
Esperanto:ili (eo),tiuj (eo)
Estonian:nemad (et) pl,nad (et) pl
Ewe:wo
Faroese:teir (fo) m tær (fo) f,tey (fo) n
Fijian:(dual)^(молим оверавање)rau (fj),(paucal)^{(молимоверавање)}iratou,(pl)^{(молимоверавање)}ira
Finnish:(of people)he (fi),(of inanimate things and animals)ne (fi),(informally of people)ne (fi),hyö (fi)(dialectal)
French:ils (fr) m,elles (fr) f,(tonic)eux (fr) m pl
Old French:(male only or mixed)il,(female only)eles
Louisiana French:eux (fr),eusse (fr),eux-autres (fr)
Friulian:lôr
Galician:eles (gl) m,elas f
Georgian:ისინი(isini)
German:sie (de)
Greek:αυτοί (el) m(aftoí),αυτές (el) f(aftés),αυτά (el) n(aftá)
Ancient Greek:οὗτοι m(hoûtoi),αὗται f(haûtai)ταῦτα(taûta);σφεῖς(spheîs)
Guaraní:ha'ekuéra
Gujarati:એવણ(evaṇ)
Hausa:(independent form)súu
Hawaiian:lāua du,lākou pl
Hebrew:הֵם (he) m(hem),הֵן (he) f(hen)
Higaonon:sidan
Hindi:वे (hi)(ve),ये (hi)(ye)
Hopi:puma
Hungarian:ők (hu)
Icelandic:þeir (is) m pl,þær (is) m or f,þau (is) n pl
Ido:li (io),ili (io) m,eli (io) f,(things)oli (io)
Indonesian:mereka (id)
Ingush:уж(už)
Interlingua:illes (ia) m,illas (ia) f,illos (ia) n
Irish:siad(conjunctive),iad(disjunctive),siadsan,iadsan(emphatic)
Old Irish:é
Istriot:luri
Italian:essi (it),loro (it)
Japanese:彼ら (ja)(かれら, karera),あいつら(aitsura),(non-human)それら (ja)(sorera),(polite)あの人達(あのひとたち, anohito-tachi),(more polite)あの方々(あのかたがた, anokata-gata),彼女ら (ja)(かのじょら, kanojora)(females only)
Kabuverdianu:es
Kaingang:ag
Kalmyk:тедн(tedn)
Kannada:ಇವರು m or f(ivaru),ಇವುಗಳು n(ivugaḷu),ಇವು (kn) n(ivu),ಅವರು (kn) m or f(avaru),ಅವುಗಳು n(avugaḷu),ಅವು (kn) n(avu)
Karakalpak:olar
(deprecated template usage){{trans-mid}}
Karakhanid:اُلارْ(olar)
Kashubian:òni
Kazakh:олар (kk)(olar)
Khakas:олар(olar)
Khmer:គាត់ (km)(koat),ពួកគេ(puək kee),គេ (km)(kei),ពួកគាត់(puəkkŏət)
Korean:그들(geudeul),그녀들(geunyeodeul)(females only)
Kyrgyz:алар (ky)(alar)
Lakota:epi,iyepi
Laboya:rattu
Lao:ພວກເຂົາ(phūak khao)
Latgalian:jī m,juos f,šī m,šuos f
Latin:ii (la) n ei (la) m,eae (la) f,ea (la) n,hi (la) m,hae (la) f,haec (la) n,illi m,illae,illae f,illa n
Latvian:viņi (lv) m,viņas (lv) f
Lithuanian:jie (lt) m pl,jos (lt) f pl
Livonian:nämād,ne
Louisiana Creole French:yé
Lü:молим додајте овај превод ако можете
Macedonian:ти́е(tíe)
Malay:mereka (ms)
Maltese:huma (mt)
Manchu:ᠴᡝ
Manx:ad (gv),adsyn(emphatic)
Maori:rāua du,rātou pl
Mazanderani:وشون(vešun)
Mon:ညး တံ(ɲɛ̀h tɔʔ),ဍေံ တံ(ɗɛ̀h tɔʔ)
Mongolian:тэд нар(ted nar)
Mòcheno:sei
Neapolitan:loro
Ngarrindjeri:kar
North Frisian:(Heilgolandic)djo,(Mooring)ja
Northern Sami:^{(молимоверавање)}soaidual,^{(молимоверавање)}sii pl
Norwegian:de (no)
Nynorsk:dei (nn)
Occitan:eles (oc),elas
Ojibwe:wiinawaa
Old Church Slavonic:
Cyrillic:они(oni)
Old East Slavic:они(oni),онѣ(oně)(females or non-animate)
Old English:hīe pl
Old Norse:þeir,þær,þau
Ottoman Turkish:اولار(olar)
Pashto:هغوی(hoǧúy)(absent or distant),دوی (ps)(dūy)(visible or present)
Persian:ایشان (fa)(išân),آنها (fa)(ânhâ),آنان (fa)(ânân)
Pipil:yejemet,yehemet
Pitjantjatjara:(here)ngaa,(there)pala,(over there)nyara,(not visible)palunya
Polish:oni (pl) m(animate),one (pl) m or f or n(nonanimate)
Portuguese:eles (pt) m,elas (pt) f
Quechua:paykuna (qu)
Rapa Nui:raua
Romani:on
Kalo Finnish Romani:joon
Vlax Romani:von
Romanian:ei (ro) m,ele (ro) f,dumnealor m pl or f pl(formal, polite)
Romansch:els m,ellas f
Russian:они́ (ru)(oní)
Rusyn:вни́(vný)
Scots:thay
Scottish Gaelic:(nonemphatic)iad,(emphatic)iadsan
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic:они m pl,оне f pl,она n pl
Roman:oni m pl,one (sh) f pl,ona (sh) n pl
Shan:молим додајте овај превод ако можете
Shor:ылар(ılar)
Sicilian:iddi (scn),idde f
Sinhalese:ඔවුහු(ovuhu),ඔව්හු(ovhu),ඔවුන්(ovun),එයාලා(eyālā)(informal)
Slovak:oni m pl,ony f pl or n pl
Slovene:ôni (sl) m,ône (sl) f,ôna (sl) n
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian:wóni
Southern Altai:олор(olor)
Spanish:ellos (es) m,ellas (es) f
Sranan Tongo:they
Swahili:wao
Swedish:de (sv),dom (sv)
Sylheti:ꠔꠣꠁꠘ(tain),ꠔꠣꠞꠣ(tara)
Tagalog:(ng form)nila,(sa form)kanila,(unmarked form)sila (tl)
Tajik:эшон (tg)(ešon),онҳо (tg)(onho)
Tamil:அவர் (ta)(avar),இவர் (ta)(ivar)
Taos:ą́wąną
Tatar:алар(alar)
Telugu:వారు (te)(vāru),వాళ్ళు(vāḷḷu)
Tetum:sira
Thai:เขา (th)(kǎo),พวกเขา
Tibetan:ཁོང་ཚོ(khong tsho)(ordinary),ཁོ་རང་ཚོ(kho rang tsho)(familiar male),མོ་རང་ཚོ(mo rang tsho)(familiar female)
Tigrinya:ንሳቶም m(nəsatom),ንሳተን f(nəsatän)
Tlingit:hás
Tok Pisin:ol (tpi)
Turkish:onlar (tr)
Turkmen:olar
Ukrainian:вони́ (uk)(voný)
Urdu:وہ(ve, vah),یہ(ye, yah)
Uyghur:ئۇلار(ular)
Uzbek:ular (uz)
Venetian:lori (vec) m pl,lore (vec) f pl,łore,łori,łuri
Veps:hö
Vietnamese:họ (vi)
Volapük:(masculine)oms (vo),(feminine)ofs (vo),(neuter or mixed gender)ons (vo)
Welsh:(literary)hwy,(literary)hwynt,(spoken)nhw
West Frisian:hja (fy),sy (fy),se
Wolof:ñoom (wo)
Yiddish:זיי(zey)
Yoruba:(weak pronoun)wọ́n,(strong pronoun)àwọn
Zealandic:'ulder,(unemphatic)ze
Zhuang:dohde,vajde,hongminz,mbongmiz,gyoengqde
Zulu:bona class2(usually for people),yona class4,wona class6,zona class8,zona class10
ǃKung:si(people),hi(animals, things)
ǃXóõ:ùh,(emphatic)ùhʻù

third-person singular, of unknown, irrelevant, or non-binary gender

Azerbaijani:o (az)
Bashkir:ул(ul)
Bengali:সে (bn)(śe)
Burmese:သူ (my)(su)
Chichewa:iye
Chinese:
Cantonese:佢 (yue)(keoi⁵)
Dungan:та(ta)
Mandarin:TA (zh)(tā)
Min Nan:伊 (zh-min-nan)(i)
Wu:伊(hhi)
Chuvash:вӑл(văl)
Cree:wiya(wiya)
Dyirbal:not used in Dyirbal(Dyirbal has no third-person pronoun)
Dzongkha:ཕྱོ(phyo),ནཱ(nā)
Esperanto:li (eo),ri (eo)(neologism),ĝi (eo)(nonstandard),ŝli (eo)(neologism)
Estonian:tema (et) sg,ta (et) sg,see (et) sg
Fijian:koya
Finnish:hän (fi)(of people),se (fi)(of things or informally of people)
French:iel (fr) n(neologism),on (fr)
Georgian:ის (ka)(is)
German:not used in Немачки
Guaraní:ahẽ
Hawaiian:ia
Hindi:वह (hi)(vah),यह (hi)(yah)
Hungarian:ő (hu)
Icelandic:hán (is)
Ido:lu (io)
Indonesian:dia (id),ia (id)
Interlingua:uno,on
Japanese:あの人(あのひと, anohito),氏 (ja)(し, shi)
Kabuverdianu:es
Karelian:häi
Kazakh:ол (kk)(ol)
Ket:бу(bu)
Korean:그 (ko)(geu)(literary, poetic, or in translated works only)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish:ew (ku)
Kyrgyz:ал (ky)(al)
(deprecated template usage){{trans-mid}}
Lakota:ish,iye
Lao:ເຂົາ (lo)(khao)
Malay:dia (ms),ia
Maltese:huma (mt)
Maori:ia
Mongolian:тэр (mn)(ter)
Norwegian:hen (no)
Ojibwe:wiin
Pashto:هغه (ps)(hağë)
Persian:او (fa)(u),وی (fa)(vay),وی (fa)(vey)
Pipil:yaha,yaja
Portuguese:elu (pt) n(neologism),se (pt)(reflexive)
Quechua:pay (qu)
Romanian:not used in Румунски
Russian:not used in Руски
Sami:
Inari:sun
Lule:sån
Northern:son
Skolt:son
Southern:dïhte
Spanish:elle (es) n(neologism),se (es)(reflexive)
Swahili:yeye
Swedish:hen (sv)
Tagalog:(ng form)niya,(sa form)kaniya,(unmarked form)siya
Tatar:ул (tt)(ul)
Thai:เขา (th)(kǎo)
Tibetan:ཁོང(khong)
Tupinambá:a'e
Turkish:o (tr)
Turkmen:ol
Ukrainian:вони́ (uk)(voný)
Urdu:وہ(voh),یہ(ye)
Uyghur:ئۇ (ug)(u)
Uzbek:u (uz)
Vietnamese:họ (vi),nó (vi)
Volapük:on (vo)
Yoruba:ó,á
ǃKung:ha

one, people, some people

Dutch:ze (nl)
Ewe:wo
Finnish:passive tense or null subject used
French:on (fr)
Georgian:ერთი (ka)(erti),ვინმე(vinme),შენ (ka)(šen)
German:man (de)
Hungarian:az ember,-nak/-nek,-ják/-ik
(deprecated template usage){{trans-mid}}
Italian:si (it)
Khmer:ពួកគេ(puəkkei)
Persian:ایشان (fa)(išân)
Portuguese:se (pt)
Spanish:se (es),uno (es) m,una (es) f
Swedish:de (sv),dom (sv),man (sv)
Zealandic:'ulder,(unemphatic)ze

	personal pronoun	possessive pronoun	possessive determiner
subjective	objective	reflexive
first person	singular	I me(colloquial)	me	myself me mysen	mine	my mine (before vowels, archaic) me
plural	we	us	ourselves ourself oursen	ours	our
second person	singular	standard, formal	you	you	yourself yoursen	yours yourn(obsolete outside dialects)	your
archaic, informal	thou	thee	thyself theeself thysen	thine	thy thine (before vowels)
plural	standard	you ye(archaic)	you	yourselves	yours yourn(obsolete outside dialects)	your
colloquial	you all y'all you guys	you all y'all you guys	–	y'all's you guys's your guys's(proscribed)	y'all's your all's(nonstandard) you guys's your guys's(proscribed)
informal /dialectal	(see list of dialectal forms atyouand inflected forms in those entries)
third person	singular	masculine	he	him	himself hisself(archaic) hissen	his hisn(obsolete outside dialects)	his
feminine	she	her	herself hersen	hers hern(obsolete outside dialects)	her
neuter	it hit	it hit	itself hitself	its his(archaic)	its his(archaic) hits
genderless	they	them	themself,themselves	theirs	their
genderless, nonspecific (formal)	one	one	oneself	–	one's
plural	they	them hem,'em	themselves theirsen	theirs theirn(obsolete outside dialects)	their

Determiner

they

(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."
- 1883Judy, or the London serio-comic journal, volume 33 (Harvard University)[1]:
  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."
(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[.]"
- 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 2016, p. 175:
  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

(rare, dialect or eye dialect:)the;thay,thaay(Gloucestershire, Berkshire, possibly archaic)

Etymology 2

From earlierthe'e, fromthere.

Pronoun

they

(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,page 58:
  They ain’t nothin’ wrong with that.
- 2008, Christian Carvajal,Lightfall,page 82:
  Butthey ain’t nothin’ in there you didn’t already have.
- 2010, Alessandro Portelli,They Say in Harlan County: An Oral History,page 207:
  Well,they’s a lot of ‘em didn’t survive, if you believe me.

References

↑^1,0^1,1^1,2“they” inThe American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.:Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016,→ISBN 978-0-544-45445-3.
↑“they” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2026.
↑Otto Jespersen,Growth and Structure of the English Language
↑“thei” inMED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.:University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved2016-01-28.
↑Anne Bodine,Androcentrism in Prescriptive Grammar: Singular `they', Sex-indefinite `he', and `he or she', inLanguage in Society, v. 4 (1975), pages 129-146
↑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.)
↑Michael Reed,Tech Book 1→ISBN 0956081312,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."
↑John McWhorter,Word on the Street: Debunking the Myth of a Pure Standard (2009,→ISBN 0786731478: "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

hyte,thye,ythe^{(alphagramehty)}