my

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See also: Appendix:Variations of "my"

Translingual

Etymology

Abbreviation of English Myanmar, formerly Burma, where Burmese is spoken.

Symbol

my

  1. (international standards) ISO 639-1 language code for Burmese.

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • (stressed) enPR: mī IPA(key): /maɪ/
    • Audio (US)(file)
  • (unstressed) IPA(key): /maɪ/, /mə/
    • (unstressed, UK) IPA(key): /mɪ/, /mi/
  • (Ireland, Scouse, some speakers) IPA(key): /mi/
  • Rhymes: -aɪ
  • Homophones: muh, me (some dialects)

Etymology 1

From Middle English mi, my, apocopated form of min, myn, from Old English mīn (“my, mine”), from Proto-West Germanic *mīn, from Proto-Germanic *mīnaz (“my, mine”, pron.) (possessive of *ek (“I”)), from Proto-Indo-European *méynos (“my; mine”).

Cognate with West Frisian myn (“my”), Afrikaans my (“my”), Dutch mijn (“my”), German mein (“my”), Swedish min (“my”). More at me.

Determiner

my

  1. First-person singular possessive determiner. See Appendix:Possessive#English.
    1. Belonging to me.
      I can't find my book.
    2. Associated with me.
      My seat at the restaurant was uncomfortable.
      Don't you know my name?
      I recognised him because he had attended my school.
    3. Related to me.
      My parents won't let me go out tonight.
    4. In the possession of me.
      I have to take my books back to the library soon.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
See also
English personal pronouns
Dialectal and obsolete or archaic forms are in italics.
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'allselves y'all's
you guys'
your guys' (proscribed)		 y'all's
your all's (nonstandard)
you guys'
your guys' (proscribed)
informal / dialectal (see list of dialectal forms at you and 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

Etymology 2

An abbreviation of an oath such as my word or my Lord

Interjection

my

  1. Used to express surprise, shock or amazement.
    My, what big teeth you have!
Derived terms

Afrikaans

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Dutch mij.

Pronoun

my (subject ek)

  1. me (object)
Alternative forms
  • mij (obsolete)
  • mijn (obsolete, rare)

See also

Afrikaans personal pronouns
subjective objective possessive determiner possessive pronoun
singular 1st ek my myne
2nd jy jou joune
2nd, formal u u s’n
3rd, masc hy hom sy syne
3rd, fem sy haar hare
3rd, neut dit sy syne
plural 1st ons ons s’n
2nd julle / jul1 julle s’n
3rd hulle / hul1 hulle s’n
1. The forms jul and hul are unstressed variants. They are used mostly in possessive function, but also otherwise, chiefly when the pronoun is repeated within the same sentence.

Etymology 2

From Dutch mijn.

Determiner

my

  1. my; of me
Alternative forms

See also

Afrikaans personal pronouns
subjective objective possessive determiner possessive pronoun
singular 1st ek my myne
2nd jy jou joune
2nd, formal u u s’n
3rd, masc hy hom sy syne
3rd, fem sy haar hare
3rd, neut dit sy syne
plural 1st ons ons s’n
2nd julle / jul1 julle s’n
3rd hulle / hul1 hulle s’n
1. The forms jul and hul are unstressed variants. They are used mostly in possessive function, but also otherwise, chiefly when the pronoun is repeated within the same sentence.

Cameroon Pidgin

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Determiner

my

  1. 1st person singular possessive determiner

See also

Cameroonian Pidgin possessive determiners
singular plural
1st person my we
2nd person your wuna
3rd person yi dia

Chinese Pidgin English

Etymology

From English my.

Pronoun

my

  1. I (subject pronoun)
    Synonyms: I, me
    • 1836 January, “Jargon spoken at Canton: how it originated and has grown into use; mode in which the Chinese learn English; examples of the language in common use between foreigners and Chinese”, in The Chinese Repository, volume IV, number 9, page 433:
      ‘My wanchee takee go away alla this cover, putee nother piece,’ replied I.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
  2. me (object pronoun)
    Synonym: me
  3. my (possessive pronoun)

Cornish

Alternative forms

  • (Standard Cornish) me

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *mi, from Proto-Celtic *mī.

Pronoun

my

  1. I, me

Czech

Etymology

Inherited from Old Czech my, from Proto-Slavic *my, from Proto-Indo-European *wéy.

Pronunciation

Pronoun

my

  1. we

Declension

Declension of my (pl-only animate pronoun)
plural
nominative my
genitive nás
dative nám
accusative nás
vocative —
locative nás
instrumental námi

Related terms

Czech personal pronouns
singular plural
1st person já my
2nd person familiar ty vy
polite vy
3rd person m on oni*
f ona ony
n ono ona
reflexive sebe, se (clitic)
* animate referents only, for inanimate ones ony is used.

Further reading

  • my in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
  • my in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989
  • my in Internetová jazyková příručka

Danish

Noun

my n (singular definite myet, plural indefinite myer)

  1. The Greek letter μ (mu)

Declension

Declension of my
neuter
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative my myet myer myerne
genitive mys myets myers myernes

Noun

my c

  1. micron

Synonyms

References

Egyptian

Etymology

mj (“like”) +‎ -j (“adverbializing suffix”).

Pronunciation

Adverb

miii
  1. likewise
  2. accordingly

References

  • James P Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 86.

Lower Sorbian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *my, from Proto-Indo-European *nos.

Pronoun

my pl

  1. we

Declension

Declension of the first-person pronouns
Singular Dual Plural
Nominative ja mej my
Genitive mě
(after preposition) mnjo 		naju nas
Dative mě
(after preposition) mnjo 		nama nam
Accusative mě
(after preposition) mnjo 		naju nas
Instrumental mnu nama nami
Locative mnjo nama nas
Possessive determiner mój naju naš

Manx

Etymology

From Old Irish má, from Proto-Celtic *mā, *ma (compare Cornish and Breton mar), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂.

Conjunction

my

  1. if

Middle English

Determiner

my (subjective pronoun I)

  1. Alternative form of mi

Old Czech

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *my.

Pronunciation

Pronoun

my

  1. we (first person plural)

Declension

Declension of the personal pronouns
Singular 1st person 2nd person Reflexive
Nominative jáz, já ty —
Genitive mne, mě tebe, tě sebe, sě
Dative mně, mi tobě, ti sobě, si
Accusative mě, mne tě, tebe sě, sebe
Locative mně tobě sobě
Instrumental mnú tobú, tebú sobú, sebú
Possessive mój tvój svój
Dual 1st person 2nd person Reflexive
Nominative vě, va, ma vy —
Genitive najú vajú sebe, sě
Dative náma váma sobě, si
Accusative ny, najú vy, vajú sě, sebe
Locative najú vajú sobě
Instrumental náma váma sobú, sebú
Possessive náš, najú váš, vajú svój
Plural 1st person 2nd person Reflexive
Nominative my vy —
Genitive nás vás sebe, sě
Dative nám, nem vám, vem sobě, si
Accusative ny, nás vy, vás sě, sebe
Locative nás vás sobě
Instrumental námi vámi sobú, sebú
Possessive náš váš svój

Descendants

  • Czech: my

References

Old Polish

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *my. First attested in the 14th century.

Pronunciation

Pronoun

my

  1. we; first person plural
  2. we; I royal first person plural

Declension

Declension of my
plural dual
nominative my wa
genitive nas naju
dative nam nama
accusative nas wa
instrumental nami nama
locative nas naju

Descendants

  • Masurian: mi
  • Polish: my
  • Silesian: my

References

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Polish my.

Pronoun

my

  1. we; first person plural
  2. we; I royal first person plural
  3. we; I editorial first person plural
Declension
Declension of my
plural
nominative my
genitive nas
dative nam
accusative nas
instrumental nami
locative nas
vocative —

See also

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Ancient Greek μῦ (mû), from Phoenician 𐤌 (m /⁠mēm⁠/).

Alternative forms

Noun

my n (indeclinable)

  1. mu (Greek letter Μ, μ)

Trivia

According to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), my is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 88 times in scientific texts, 30 times in news, 138 times in essays, 200 times in fiction, and 419 times in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 875 times, making it the 49th most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.

References

  1. ^ Ida Kurcz (1990), “my”, in Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej [Frequency dictionary of the Polish language] (in Polish), volume 1, Kraków; Warszawa: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Języka Polskiego, page 259

Further reading

  • my in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • my in Polish dictionaries at PWN
  • Maria Renata Mayenowa, Stanisław Rospond, Witold Taszycki, Stefan Hrabec, Władysław Kuraszkiewicz (2010-2023) “my”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish]
  • “MY”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century], 2021 June 22
  • Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807–1814), “my”, in Słownik języka polskiego
  • Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861), “my”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861
  • J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1902), “my”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), volume 2, Warsaw, page 1081

Portuguese

Pronoun

my

  1. Obsolete form of mim.

Silesian

Etymology

Inherited from Old Polish my.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈmɨ/
  • Rhymes: -ɨ
  • Syllabification: my

Pronoun

my

  1. we; first person plural

Declension

Declension of my
plural
nominative my
genitive nŏs, nas
dative nōm, nam
accusative nŏs, nas
instrumental nami
locative nŏs, nas

Further reading

  • my in silling.org

Slovak

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *my, from Proto-Indo-European *nos.

Pronunciation

Pronoun

my

  1. we

Related terms

Further reading

  • “my”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2024

Swedish

Noun

my n

  1. The Greek letter μ (mu)

Upper Sorbian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *my, from Proto-Indo-European *wéy.

Pronoun

my

  1. we

Declension

Upper Sorbian personal pronouns
First person pronouns
Singular Dual Plural
Nominative ja mój my
Genitive mje
(after preposition) mnje 		naju nas
Dative mi
(after preposition) mni 		namaj nam
Accusative mje
(after preposition) mnje 		naju nas
Instrumental mnu namaj nami
Locative mni nas
Second person pronouns
Singular Dual Plural
Nominative ty wój wy
Genitive će
(after preposition) tebje 		waju was
Dative ći
(after preposition) tebi 		wamaj wam
Accusative će
(after preposition) tebje 		waju was
Instrumental tobu wamaj wami
Locative tebi was
Third person pronouns
Masculine singular Feminine singular Neuter singular Dual virile Dual nonvirile Plural virile Plural nonvirile
Nominative wón wona wono wonaj wonej woni wone
Genitive jeho
(after preposition) njeho 		jeje
(after preposition) njeje 		jeho
(after preposition) njeho 		jeju jich
(after preposition) nich
Dative jemu
(after preposition) njemu 		jej
(after preposition) njej 		jemu
(after preposition) njemu 		jimaj
(after preposition) nimaj 		jim
(after preposition) nim
Accusative jón
(after preposition) njón
(animate) jeho
(animate after preposition) njeho 		ju
(after preposition) nju 		jo, je
(after preposition) njo, nje 		jeju
(after preposition) njeju 		jej
(after preposition) njej 		jich
(after preposition) nich 		je
(after preposition) nje
Instrumental nim njej nim nimaj nimi
Locative nich

Further reading

  • “my” in Soblex

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian mī, from Proto-Germanic *miz.

Pronunciation

Pronoun

my

  1. object of ik
Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia