Definition of THEY

they

Meanings

Pron

  • A group of entities previously mentioned.
  • A single person, previously mentioned, whose gender is unknown, irrelevant, or (since 21st c.) non-binary.
  • People; some people; people in general; someone, excluding the speaker.
  • The authorities: government, police, employers, etc.
  • The opponents of the side which is keeping score.
  • There (especially as an expletive subject of be).

Det

  • The, those.
  • Their.

Verb

  • To refer to (someone, sometimes especially someone who does not use gender-neutral pronouns) using they/them pronouns.

Origin / Etymology

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *tóy
Proto-Germanic *þai
Proto-Norse *ᚦᚨᛁᛉ (*þaiʀ)
Old Norse þeirbor.
Middle English þei
English they From Middle English þei, borrowed in the 1200s from Old Norse þeir, plural of the demonstrative sá which acted as a plural pronoun. Displaced native Middle English he from Old English hīe — which vowel changes had left indistinct from he (“he”) — by the 1400s, being readily incorporated alongside native words beginning with the same sound (the, that, this). Used as a singular pronoun since 1300, e.g. in the 1325 Cursor Mundi.
The Norse term (whence also Icelandic þeir (“they”), Faroese teir (“they”), Danish de (“they”), Swedish de (“they”), Norwegian Nynorsk dei (“they”)) is from Proto-Germanic *þai (“those”) (from Proto-Indo-European *to- (“that”)), whence also Old English þā (“those”) (whence obsolete English tho), Scots thae, thai, thay (“they; those”).
(American linguist John McWhorter rejects this and suggests that they, them, and their are native English instead, from Old English þā, þām, þāra.)
The origin of the determiner they (“the, those”) is unclear. The OED, English Dialect Dictionary and Middle English Dictionary define it and its Middle English predecessor thei as a demonstrative determiner or adjective meaning "those" or "the". This could be a continuation of the use of the English pronoun they's Old Norse etymon þeir as a demonstrative meaning "those", but the OED and EDD say it is limited to southern, especially southwestern, England, specifically outside the region of Norse contact.

Antonyms

we

Scrabble Score: 10

they is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
they is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
they is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 8

they is a valid Words With Friends word