sie

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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

Pronunciation

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.

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

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
Synonyms

Anagrams

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

Pronoun

sie (stem siu-) (dialectal)

  1. (personal) you (second-person singular personal pronoun)

Usage notes

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

Synonyms

  • sinä (standard Finnish; see it for full list)

Anagrams

German

Alternative forms

  • se, -se (enclitic; colloquial)

Pronunciation

  • (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.

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

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

Pronoun

sie

  1. she
Inflection

Etymology 2

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

Pronunciation

Pronoun

sie

  1. they
Inflection

Further reading

Ingrian

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Noun

sie

  1. bond; tie
  2. bandage

Declension

Declension of sie (type 6/lähe, t- gradation, gemination)
singular plural
nominative sie sitteet
genitive sitteen sittein
partitive siettä sitteitä
illative sitteesse sitteisse
inessive sittees sitteis
elative sitteest sitteist
allative sitteelle sitteille
adessive sitteel sitteil
ablative sitteelt sitteilt
translative sitteeks sitteiks
essive sitteennä, sitteen sitteinnä, sittein
exessive1) sitteent sitteint
1) obsolete
*) the accusative corresponds with either the genitive (sg) or nominative (pl)
**) the comitative is formed by adding the suffix -ka? or -kä? to the genitive.

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

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

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

Pronoun

sie m pl or f pl

  1. nominative/accusative masculine plural of ër
  2. nominative/accusative feminine plural of siu
Inflection
Middle High German personal pronouns
Number Person Gender Nominative Genitive Dative Accusative
Singular First ich mīn mir mich
Second du, dīn dir dich
Third Masculine ër
CG hë(r)
sīn im(e) in
Feminine siu ir(e) ir(e) sie
Neuter ëȥ
CG , it
es im(e) ëȥ
CG , it
Plural First wir unser uns uns, unsich
Second ir iuwer iu, iuch iuch
Third Masculine sie ir(e) in sie
Feminine
Neuter siu siu
The distinction of the forms siu and sie as shown above is typical of earlier Upper German texts, but was never general. The forms and si existed additionally and all four were increasingly used without differentiation.
Descendants
  • German: sie

Etymology 2

Pronoun

sie

  1. accusative feminine of siu

Middle Low German

Pronunciation

Pronoun

sie

  1. Alternative form of .

Old English

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Verb

sīe

  1. singular present subjunctive of wesan

Old Saxon

Alternative forms

Pronoun

sie m or f

  1. she (accusative)
  2. they

Declension

Descendants

  • Low German: se

Pennsylvania German

Etymology 1

Compare German sie.

Pronunciation

Pronoun

sie f

  1. she, her
Declension

Etymology 2

Compare German sie.

Pronunciation

Pronoun

sie

  1. they, them
Declension

Plautdietsch

Verb

sie

  1. first-person singular present of sennen

Romanian

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Latin sibi.

Pronunciation

Pronoun

sie

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

Derived terms

Silesian

Etymology

Inherited from Old Polish się.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɕɛ/
  • Rhymes:
  • Syllabification: sie

Pronoun

sie

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

Declension

Alternative forms

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

Venetan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin sex. Compare Italian sei.

Noun

sie

  1. six