sie

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English sien, from Old English sīgan (“to sink, descend”), from Proto-Germanic *sīganą, *sīhwaną (“to strain, drop”), from Proto-Indo-European *seyk- (“to pour, strain”). Cognate with Dutch zijgen (“to filter”), German seihen (“to strain, sieve”), Icelandic síga (“to lower”).

Alternative forms

• sigh
• sey, sye (Scotland)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /saɪ/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ

Verb

sie (third-person singular simple present sies, present participle sying, simple past and past participle sied)

1. (intransitive) To sink; fall; drop.
2. (intransitive) To fall, as in a swoon; faint.
3. (intransitive, dialectal) To drop, as water; trickle.
4. (transitive) To sift.
5. (transitive, dialectal) To strain, as milk; filter.

Noun

sie (plural sies)

1. A drop.

Related terms

• sile

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siː/
• Homophones: c, cee, sea, see

Pronoun

sie (third person singular, gender-neutral, nominative case, accusative sir, possessive adjective hir, possessive noun hirs, reflexive hirself)

1. (rare, nonstandard) Gender-neutral subject pronoun, grammatically equivalent to the gendered pronouns he and she
   • 1993 September 24, Alex Martelli, “punishment vs ethics (was Re: Discipline my daughters)”, in alt.sex.bondage (Usenet):

     If the child is about the intellectual equal of the parent, sie will eventually start holding hir own in discussions, […]

   • 2010 September 16, Jessica Freely, Amaranth and Ash‎, La Vergne: Lightning Source, →ISBN, page 101:

     "You must be Ash," sie said, hir voice a shade deeper than Amaranth's.

   • 2011 May 19, Ken Wickham, The Other Genders: Androgyne, Genderqueer, Non-Binary Gender Variant‎, CreateSpace, →ISBN, page 7:

     Sie may feel that hir actual identity of hir gender is supposed to be both/neither male or female, outside of gender, third gender, beyond gender, absence of gender, mixing gender, changing gender, or all genders.

   • 2011 August 16, Petra Kuppers, Disability Culture and Community Performance: Find a Strange and Twisted Shape‎, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, →LCCN, LCC PN1590.H36 K87 2011, page 18:

     When I asked hir about hir preferred self-identification in this scene, sie offered me this language, 'sie sharply performs the hotness of teasing all the audience from the edge-space of androgyny.'

Alternative forms

• shi

Synonyms

• see Appendix:English third-person singular pronouns

Anagrams

• -ies, -ise, EIS, EIs, ESI, I'se, ISE, ies, sei

Chibcha

Noun

sie

1. water

References

• Comparative Chibchan Phonology (1981)

Finnish

Etymology

Dialectal variant of sinä (through siä); see it and its etymon, Proto-Finnic *cinä, for more.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsie̯/,
• Rhymes: -ie
• Syllabification^(key): sie

Pronoun

sie (stem siu-) (dialectal)

1. (personal) you (singular; in archaic English: thou).

Usage notes

• The siu- stem is used in eastern Finland, not in Lapland.

Synonyms

• sinä (standard Finnish)
• sä (colloquial)
• sää (dialectal)

Anagrams

• eis, esi-, ies, sei

German

Alternative forms

• se, -se (enclitic; colloquial)

Pronunciation

• (standard) IPA^(key): /ziː/

• Audio

  (file)

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iː

• (colloquially in unstressed position) IPA^(key): /zə/

Etymology 1

From Middle High German siu, si, from Old High German siu, si, from Proto-West Germanic *si(j)u, *sī, from Proto-Germanic *sī (see Proto-Germanic *iz). Cognate with Gothic 𐍃𐌹 (si) and Old English sēo (“that one (f.)”).

Pronoun

sie f

1. she

   Ist sie noch krank? (

   Audio

   (file)

   )

   Is she still sick?

   Das ist meine Katze. Sie heißt Lili. (

   Audio

   (file)

   )

   This is my cat. Her name is Lili.

   Ich suche Vanessa. Hast du sie gesehen? (

   Audio

   (file)

   )

   I'm looking for Vanessa. Have you seen her?

2. it (when the object/article/thing/animal etc., referred to, is feminine )

   Scheint die Sonne noch? Nein, sie ist schon untergegangen. (

   Audio

   (file)

   )

   Is the sun still shining? No, it has already gone down.

   Ich suche meine Brieftasche. Hast du sie gesehen? (

   Audio

   (file)

   )

   I'm looking for my wallet. Have you seen it?

3. he (when the grammatical gender of the noun being referred to and designating a male person, is feminine )

   Die Geisel Richard Meier versuchte, sich zu befreien, aber sie schaffte es nicht.

   The hostage Richard Meier tried to break free, but he didn’t succeed.

   Die Wache Michael Müller beschädigte ihr Gewehr, wofür ihr Vorgesetzter sie bestrafte.

   The guardsman Michael Müller damaged his rifle, and his supervisor punished him for that.

Declension

• The genitive case ihrer is more and more rarely used in modern German.
• While the genitive of personal pronouns does express ownership, it must not be confused with possessive pronouns. While possessive pronouns such as ihr are put in front of the noun they relate to and follow the inflection rules of adjectives, the genitive form of personal pronouns has only one form, which is not further inflected. Additionally, personal pronouns in the genitive can be put after the word they relate to.

Related terms

• hatse (hat + -se)

Etymology 2

From Middle High German sie, si (neuter siu), from Old High German sie (masculine plural), sio (feminine plural), siu (neuter plural).

Pronoun

sie pl

1. they; them

Usage notes

• In the colloquial speech of some areas, this pronoun is used only enclitically after a verb, as an ending /zə/. E.g. hamse, könnse. Stressed instances are replaced with the demonstrative pronoun die. This reflects a similar development for es/das.
• While the genitive of personal pronouns does express ownership, it must not be confused with possessive pronouns. While possessive pronouns such as ihr are put in front of the noun they relate to and follow the inflection rules of adjectives, the genitive form of a personal pronoun has only one form, which is not further inflected. Additionally, personal pronouns in the genitive can be put after the word they relate to.

Declension

Further reading

• “sie” in Duden online
• “sie” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Anagrams

• sei
• Eis

Hunsrik

Alternative forms

• sii (Wiesemann spelling system)

Etymology 1

From Old High German siu; cognate with Gothic 𐍃𐌹 (si) and Old English sēo (“that one (f.)”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siː/

Pronoun

sie

1. she

Inflection

Etymology 2

From Old High German sie (masculine plural), sio (feminine plural), siu (neuter plural).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siː/

Pronoun

sie

1. they

Inflection

Further reading

• Online Hunsrik Dictionary

Ingrian

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *sidek, equivalent to sittoa (“to bind”) +‎ -e. Cognates include Finnish side and Estonian side.

Pronunciation

• (Ala-Laukaa) IPA^(key): /ˈsie/,
• (Soikkola) IPA^(key): /ˈsie/,
• Rhymes: -ie
• Hyphenation: si‧e

Noun

sie

1. bond; tie
2. bandage

Declension

References

• Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 523

Iu Mien

Etymology

From Proto-Hmong-Mien *tsʰje (“hungry”). Cognate with White Hmong tshaib and Western Xiangxi Miao xib.

Adjective

sie 

1. hungry

Karelian

Pronoun

sie

1. Superseded spelling of šie.

References

• P. M. Zaykov (1999) Грамматика Карельского языка (фонетика и морфология) [Grammar of the Karelian language (phonetics and morphology)], →ISBN, page 58

Kven

Etymology

From Finnish sinä, from Proto-Finnic *cinä, from Proto-Uralic *tinä.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsie̯/

Pronoun

sie

1. thou, you (singular)

Declension

See also

References

• Eira Söderholm (2017) Kvensk grammatikk, Tromsø: Cappelen Damm Akademisk, →ISBN, page 276

Middle Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siə/, /si/

Pronoun

sie

1. Alternative form of si (both feminine singular and all plural)

Middle High German

Etymology 1

Old High German sie (masculine plural), sio (feminine plural).

Alternative forms

• sî, si

Pronoun

sie m pl or f pl

1. nominative/accusative masculine plural of ër
2. nominative/accusative feminine plural of siu

Inflection

Descendants

• German: sie

Etymology 2

Pronoun

sie

1. accusative feminine of siu

Middle Low German

Pronunciation

• Stem vowel: ê⁴
  • IPA^(key): /siə/, /siɛ/

Pronoun

sie

1. Alternative form of sê.

Old English

Alternative forms

• sȳ, sīæ, sī, sīġ, sȳġ

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /si͜yː/

Verb

sīe

1. singular present subjunctive of wesan

Old Saxon

Alternative forms

• sia

Pronoun

sie m or f

1. she (accusative)
2. they

Declension

Descendants

• Low German: se

Pennsylvania German

Etymology 1

Compare German sie.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siː/

Pronoun

sie f

1. she, her

Declension

Etymology 2

Compare German sie.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siː/

Pronoun

sie

1. they, them

Declension

Romanian

Alternative forms

• sieși

Etymology

From Latin sibi.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsi.e/

Pronoun

sie

1. (rare) (to) himself/herself/itself/themselves (stressed reflexive-dative form of el, ea, ei and ele)

Derived terms

• sieși

Related terms

• își (unstressed form)

Silesian

Etymology

Inherited from Old Polish się.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɕɛ/
• Rhymes: -ɛ
• Syllabification: sie

Pronoun

sie

1. reflexive pronoun; oneself, self
2. each other, one another

Declension

Alternative forms

• siebie

Particle

sie

1. creates the passive voice
2. creates the impersonal voice
3. expresses that the action is done without restriction, freely

Further reading

• sie in dykcjonorz.eu
• sie in silling.org

Venetian

Etymology

Inherited from Latin sex. Compare Italian sei.

Noun

sie

1. six