ye

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word ye. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word ye, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say ye in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word ye you have here. The definition of the word ye will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofye, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology 1

From Middle English ye, ȝe, from Old English ġē (ye), the nominative case of the second-person plural personal pronoun, from Proto-West Germanic *jiʀ, from Proto-Germanic *jīz, a North-West variant of Proto-Germanic *jūz (ye), from Proto-Indo-European *yūs, *yū́ (ye), plural of *túh₂. Cognate with Scots ye (ye), Saterland Frisian jie, Dutch gij, ge, jij, je (ye), Low German ji, jie (ye), German ihr (ye), Danish and Swedish I (ye), Icelandic ér (ye). See also you.

Pronunciation

  • (UK, US) enPR: , IPA(key): /jiː/, ,
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -iː

Pronoun

ye (personal pronoun)

  1. (archaic outside Northern England, Cornwall, Ireland, Newfoundland) You (the people being addressed).
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. , part II (books IV–VI), London: [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 17, page 512:
      My liefe (ſayd ſhe) ye know, that long ygo, / Whileſt ye in durance dwelt, ye to me gaue / A little mayde, the which ye chylded tho ; / The ſame againe if now ye liſt to haue, / The ſame is yonder Lady, whom high God did ſaue.
    • 1671, Elisha Coles, chapter 6, in ΧΡΙΣΤΟΛΟΓΙΑ: Or, a Metrical Paraphraſe on the Hiſtory of Our Lord and Saviour Jeſus Chriſt : Dedicated to His Univerſal Church:
      Queſtion me then no more; whate'er ye want, / Ask in my Name, and God ſhall ſurely grant. / You've asked nothing yet for Jesus sake : / Ask and receive, and of my joyes partake.
    • 1995, Elizabeth II, “Legal Notice 247 of 1996”, in Hong Kong Government Gazette, page B1096:
      Know Ye that We have declared and by these Presents do declare our Will and Pleasure as follows— []
  2. (archaic) You (the singular person being addressed).
    • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, chapter 23:
      Know ye now, Bulkington? Glimpses do ye seem to see of that mortally intolerable truth; that all deep, earnest thinking is but the intrepid effort of the soul to keep the open independence of her sea; [...]
Usage notes

Ye was originally used only for the nominative case (as the subject), and only for the second-person plural. Later, ye was used as a subject or an object, either singular or plural, which is the way that you is used today. In modern Hiberno-English usage, ye is used as a subject or an object in the plural, to contrast with you (singular).

Synonyms
Derived terms
References
  • Newcastle 1970s, Scott Dobson and Dick Irwin,

Etymology 2

From Middle English þe. Early press typographies lacked the letter þ (thorn), for which the letter y was substituted due to their resemblance in blackletter hand (etymological y was for a while distinguished by a dot, ). Short form continued long after the digraph th had replaced þ elsewhere.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • Traditionally pronounced the same as the, but now often pronounced with the ordinary sound of ⟨y⟩: IPA(key): /jiː/

Article

ye

  1. (archaic, definite) The.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, 1 Timothy 1:17, column 2:
      Now vnto king eternal, immortall, inuiſible, the onely wiſe God, be honour and glory for euer ⁊ euer. Amen.
    • 1647, The old deluder, Satan, Act. (cited in American Public School Law, K. Alexander, M. Alexander, 1995)
      It being one cheife proiect of ye ould deluder, Satan, to keepe men from the knowledge of Scriptures, as in formr times by keeping ym in an unknowne tongue, so in these lattr times by perswading from ye use of tongues, yt so at least ye true sence & meaning of ye originall might be clouded by false glosses of saint seeming deceivers, yt learning may not be buried in ye church and commonwealth, the Lord assisting or endeavors,—
    Ye Olde Medicine Shoppe (pseudoarchaic)
Derived terms

Etymology 3

Shortened from yes or yeah.

Interjection

ye

  1. (slang) Yes, yeah.

Etymology 4

From Russian е (je).

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Noun

ye (plural yes)

  1. The Cyrillic letter Е, е, featured in various Slavic and Turkic languages.
Translations

Anagrams

Asturian

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Verb

ye

  1. third-person singular present indicative of ser

Azerbaijani

Verb

ye

  1. second-person singular imperative positive degree of yemək

Bambara

Etymology 1

Postposition

ye

  1. at, towards
  2. for
    N ye nin kɛ Madu ye
    I did this for Madou
  3. with
    N bɛ n ko ni safunɛ ye
    I wash myself with soap

Etymology 2

Verb

ye (auxiliary)

  1. (verbal auxiliary for transitive verbs) marks an action which is accomplished
    Ne ye moto san
    I bought a motorbike

Etymology 3

Verb

ye

  1. (transitive) to see
    Ne m'a ye fɔlɔ
    I haven't seen him yet
Derived terms

Catawba

Noun

ye

  1. man (adult male human), men
  2. person, people
  3. Native American Indian(s)

Usage notes

  • Catawba nouns do not inflect for number.
  • Many of Catawba's names for tribes incorporate this word, e.g. yę iswa (the Catawba, literally people of the river), yę manterą (the Cherokee, literally people born in/on the land).
  • The vowel of this word is generally nasalized; this is reflected in different ways or not at all in different transcriptions: ye, , yen. Sometimes, an initial i, also nasalized, is found: inyen / įyę.

References

  • 1858, Oscar M. Lieber, Vocabulary of the Catawba Language
  • 1900, Albert S. Gatschet, Grammatic Sketch of the Catawba Language (published in the American Anthropologist)
  • 1942, Frank G. Speck and C. E. Shaeffer, Catawba Kinship and Social Organization
  • 1945, Frank T. Siebert, Jr., Linguistic Classification of Catawba (published in the International Journal of American Linguistics)

Fula

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.).

Particle

ye

  1. so, therefore
  2. truly
  3. not at all

References

Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French est (is), third person singular of the indicative present of être (to be).

Pronunciation

Verb

ye

  1. Form of se used at the end of a phrase, after the predicate and the subject, in that order; to be.
    Kimoun ou ye? (Who are you?, literally Who you are?)

Ido

Etymology

From Esperanto je.

Pronunciation

Preposition

ye

  1. to, at, by (preposition used when no other fits the meaning)
    Lu kaptis la kavalo per lazo ye la kolo.
    He/she captured the horse by a lasso to the neck.
    Ye la angulo di la strado.
    At the corner of the street.
    Ilu prenis elu ye la tayo.
    He took her by the waist.

Noun

ye (plural ye-i)

  1. The name of the Latin script letter Y/y.

See also

Indonesian

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Dutch jee. Doublet of je.

Pronunciation

Noun

  1. The name of the Latin-script letter Y/y.

Synonyms

  • way (Standard Malay)

See also

Further reading

Japanese

Romanization

ye

  1. Rōmaji transcription of いぇ
  2. Rōmaji transcription of イェ
  3. (obsolete) Rōmaji transcription of 𛀁
  4. (obsolete) Rōmaji transcription of
  5. (obsolete) Rōmaji transcription of 𛄡 (𛄡)

Mandarin

Romanization

ye

  1. Nonstandard spelling of .
  2. Nonstandard spelling of .
  3. Nonstandard spelling of .
  4. Nonstandard spelling of .

Usage notes

  • Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English ġē, from Proto-West Germanic *jiʀ, from Proto-Germanic *jūz, from Proto-Indo-European *yū́ (with the nominative ending added). Compare the second-person dual pronoun ȝit.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Pronoun

ye (accusative yow, genitive youres, youren, possessive determiner your)

  1. Second-person plural pronoun: ye, you (plural).
  2. (formal) second-person singular pronoun: you (singular).
    • a. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “Book II”, in Troilus and Criseyde, lines 22–28:
      Ȝe knowe ek that in fourme of ſpeche is chaunge / With-inne a thousand ȝeer, and wordes tho /That hadden pris now wonder nyce and ſtraunge /Us thenketh hem, and ȝet thei ſpake hem so / And ſpedde as wel in loue as men now do / Ek forto wynnen loue in ſondry ages / In ſondry londes, ſondry ben vſages []
      You also know that the form of language is in flux; / within a thousand years, words / that had currency; really weird and bizarre / they seem to us now, but they still spoke them / and accomplished as much in love as men do now. / As for winning love across ages and / across nations, there are lots of usages
Usage notes

The formal singular usage, following the T-V distinction, was used to address one's superiors, elders or others to whom one might wish to show politeness or respect.

Descendants
  • English: ye, yee
  • Scots: ȝe, ye
  • Yola: ye

Verb

ye (present participle yeyn)

  1. Address a single person by the use of the pronoun ye instead of thou.
    • 1511, Promptorium Parvulorum (de Worde), sig. M.iiiᵛ/2
      Yeyn or sey ye with worshyp, viso.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
See also

References

Etymology 2

From Old English gēa, from Proto-West Germanic *jā, from Proto-Germanic *ja.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Adverb

ye

  1. yes, yea
Descendants

References

Etymology 3

Noun

(plural yën)

  1. Alternative form of eie

Etymology 4

Article

ye

  1. (chiefly Northern) Alternative form of þe (the)

Etymology 5

Pronoun

ye

  1. (chiefly Northern) Alternative form of þe (thee)

Norn

Etymology

From Old Norse eigi.

Adverb

ye

  1. (Orkney) not

Pali

Alternative forms

Pronoun

ye

  1. masculine nominative/accusative plural of ya (who (relative))

Scots

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

IPA(key): /jiː/, /jɪ/

Pronoun

ye (second person, singular or plural; possessive determiner yer, possessive pronoun yers, singular reflexive yersel, plural reflexive yersel)

  1. you

See also

Spanish

Pronunciation

 
  • IPA(key): (everywhere but Argentina and Uruguay) /ˈʝe/
  • IPA(key): (Buenos Aires and environs) /ˈʃe/
  • IPA(key): (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay) /ˈʒe/

  • Rhymes: -e
  • Syllabification: ye

Noun

ye f (plural yes)

  1. The name of the Latin-script letter Y.
    Synonym: i griega

Usage notes

  • "Ye" was recommended by the Real Academia Española as a simpler name for the more common i griega (literally Greek i). Adoption of it has been slow.

Further reading

Tagalog

Etymology

From Spanish ye, the Spanish name of the letter Y/y.

Pronunciation

Noun

ye (Baybayin spelling ᜌᜒ) (historical)

  1. The name of the Latin-script letter Y/y, in the Abecedario.
    Synonyms: (in the Filipino alphabet) way, (in the Abakada alphabet) ya

Turkish

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Noun

ye

  1. The name of the Latin-script letter Y.
See also

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Persian یه (ye).

Noun

ye

  1. Last letter of the Arabic alphabet: ي
    • Previous: و

Etymology 3

Verb

ye

  1. second-person singular imperative of yemek

Uzbek

Verb

ye

  1. imperative of yemoq

Volapük

Conjunction

ye

  1. however

Ye'kwana

Pronunciation

Noun

ye

  1. (Caura River dialect) Alternative form of iye (wood, tree)

Yola

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English ye, from Old English ġē, from Proto-West Germanic *jiʀ.

Pronoun

ye

  1. you
    • 1867, “THE WEDDEEN O BALLYMORE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 1, page 94:
      Ye be welcome, hearthilee welcome, mee joees,
      You are welcome, heartily welcome, my joys,
    • 1867, “THE WEDDEEN O BALLYMORE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 1, page 94:
      Ye be welcome, hearthillee, ivery oan.
      You are heartily welcome, every one.
    • 1867, “THE WEDDEEN O BALLYMORE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 3, page 94:
      Maade a nicest coolecannan that e'er ye did zee.
      Made the nicest coolecannan that ever you did see.
    • 1867, “VERSES IN ANSWER TO THE WEDDEEN O BALLYMORE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 3, page 100:
      At ye mye ne'er be wooveless ta vill a lear jock an cooan.
      That you may never be unprovided to fill an empty jack and can.
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Contraction

ye

  1. Alternative form of yie (to give)

Etymology 3

Article

ye

  1. Alternative form of a (the)
    • 1867, “CASTEALE CUDDE'S LAMENTATION”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 1, page 102:
      Ye nyporès aul, come hark to mee,
      Ye neighbours all, come hark to me,
    • 1867, “Prologue”, in CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 114:
      Ye soumissive Spakeen o'ouz Dwelleres o' Baronie Forthe, Weisforthe.
      The humble Address of the Inhabitants of the Barony of Forth, Wexford.
    • 1867, CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 114, lines 6-7:
      wi vengem o' core t'gie oure zense o' ye gradès whilke be ee-dighte wi yer name;
      to pour forth from the strength of our hearts, our sense of the qualities which characterise your name,
    • 1927, “THE FORTH MAN'S GRACE AFTER A SCANTY DINNER”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 137, line 2:
      When ye Lord plaase, He ma mend this,
    • 1927, “THE FORTH MAN'S GRACE AFTER A SCANTY DINNER”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 137, line 4:
      God save ye Kinge, hev awaa ye platter."

Etymology 4

Determiner

ye

  1. Pronunciation spelling of yer (your).
    • 1927, “ZONG OF TWI MAARKEET MOANS”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 129, line 14:
      Thou liest valse co secun that thou an ye thick,
      You lie false, said the second, that you and your kid,

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, pages 80, 94 & 114
  2. ^ Kathleen A. Browne (1927) The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland Sixth Series, Vol.17 No.2, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, page 129

Yoruba

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Noun

  1. (Idanre, Ondo) mother
    Synonyms: ìyá, màmá, mọ́mì, yèyé, iye, èyé, ùyá, abiyamọ
  2. (Idanre, Ondo) a term of endearment or respect for an older woman or female relative
    Synonyms: , àǹtí, ìyá, màmá, mọ́mì, yèyé, iye, èyé
    A jọ̀ọ́, iPlease, auntie
Usage notes
  • (term of endearment): usually used with mi (third-person singular possessive pronoun).
  • (both senses): follow greetings and pleasantries.

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Verb

  1. (transitive) to understand
    Ṣó yín?Do you understand?
    miI don't understand

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

Verb

  1. to stop; to cease
    ṣe bẹ́ẹ̀!Stop doing that!

Etymology 4

Pronunciation

Verb

  1. (intransitive) to survive
    Ògún , mo Ogun survives, I survive

Etymology 5

Pronunciation

Verb

  1. (transitive) to lay (eggs)
    Adìẹ mi ti ẹyinMy hen's laid eggs

Zulu

Pronoun

-ye

  1. Combining stem of yena.