we

From Middle English we, from Old English wē (“we”), from Proto-West Germanic *wiʀ, from Proto-Germanic *wīz, *wiz (“we”), from Proto-Indo-European *wéy (“we (plural)”). Cognate with Scots wee, we (“we”), North Frisian we (“we”), West Frisian wy (“we”), Low German wi (“we”), Dutch we, wij (“we”), German wir (“we”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian vi (“we”), Icelandic vér, við (“we”), Avestan 𐬬𐬀𐬉𐬨 (vaēm), Sanskrit वयम् (vayám).

• (Received Pronunciation, Canada) enPR: wē, IPA^(key): /wiː/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /wi/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophones: oui, wee, Wii (wine–whine merger); whee
• Rhymes: -iː

we (first-person plural nominative case, objective case us, possessive determiner our, possessive pronoun ours, reflexive ourselves, reflexive singular ourself)

1. (personal) The speakers/writers, or the speaker/writer and at least one other person (not the person being addressed). (This is the exclusive we.)
   • 2017 February 20, Paul Mason, “Climate scepticism is a far-right badge of honour – even in sweltering Australia”, in the Guardian‎^[1]:

     It’s time to overcome queasiness and restraint. We, the liberal and progressive people of the world, are at war with the far right to save the earth.

2. (personal) The speaker(s)/writer(s) and the person(s) being addressed. (This is the inclusive we.)
3. (personal) The institution which the speaker/writer is acting for. (This is the editorial we, used by writers and others when speaking with the authority of their publication or organisation.)
   • 2021, Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau, “Paper No. CMAB C4/9/1”, in Documents of the Hong Kong Legislative Council‎^[2], page 1:

     In light of the promulgation of the aforementioned laws and decisions, we (the administration) propose to make the following amendments to local legislation to implement the relevant requirements on oath taking by public officers.

4. (personal, royal) The sovereign alone in their capacity as monarch. (This is the royal we. The reflexive case of this sense of we is ourself.)
5. (personal) The plural form of you, including everyone being addressed.

   How are we all tonight?

   • 2013 July-August, Stephen P. Lownie, David M. Pelz, “Stents to Prevent Stroke”, in American Scientist:

     As we age, the major arteries of our bodies frequently become thickened with plaque, a fatty material with an oatmeal-like consistency that builds up along the inner lining of blood vessels.

6. (personal, often considered patronising) A second- or third-person pronoun for a person in the speaker's care.

   How are we feeling this morning?

   • 1836, “Boz” [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “The Boarding-House”, in Sketches by “Boz,” Illustrative of Every-day Life, and Every-day People. […], volume I, London: John Macrone, […], →OCLC, chapter II, page 204:

     “Well, my dear ma’am, and how are we?” inquired Wosky in a soothing tone. / “Very ill, doctor—very ill,” said Mrs. Bloss in a whisper.

   • 2008 May 13, Tom Armstrong, Marvin (comic):

     Are we ready to go to bed, sweetie?

7. (colloquial) The speaker themselves, used to imply connection between the speaker's experiences and a group of listeners. (Compare the plural of modesty.)

   Hey guys, how's it going? Today we are going to be playing a new game.

   • 2021 January 6, 3:38:03 from the start, in Rally on Electoral College Vote Certification‎^[3] (television broadcast), spoken by Donald Trump, Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN):

     All Vice President [Mike] Pence has to do is send it back to the states to recertify and we become president and you are the happiest people.

   • 2021 June 24, “Far from Home” (3:07 from the start), in Alone‎^[4], season 9, episode 4 (televison production), spoken by Theresa Emmerich Kamper, via HISTORY Channel:

     [Today is] not a day to think about fishing so we will get back to working on the shelter. [cut in video] Cool, so I guess the best analogy for this, then, is that we've basically framed the house, and now we get to shingle.

   • 2022 October 25, 32:11 from the start, Vote 2022, in Joseph Camp, director, PBS NewsHour‎^[5] (television production), spoken by John Fetterman, via Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), archived from the original on 2022-10-25:

     The elephant in the room, you know, we had a stroke back in May.

8. (West Country, archaic) Us.
9. (bridge) The side which is keeping score.

   Antonym: they

• Jamaican Creole: wi
• Sranan Tongo: wi

we

1. The speakers/writers, or the speaker/writer and at least one other person.

   We Canadians like to think of ourselves as different.

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

• IPA^(key): /wə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

we

2. (Geordie) Us.

   He was a propa gadgie, and always bought we drinks after a long shift.

   He was a great guy, and always bought us drinks after a long shift.

   And what have you done for we since? Nowt!

   And what have you done for us since? Nothing!

Not to be confused with Tyneside us (“me”).

• EW, e͞w, ew, E&W

we (dual werom, plural wekon)

1. tree kangaroo

• Newguineaworld, citing Donohue and Musgrave, Abinomn nominal number (2007: 365)

we

1. (Mpakwithi) owl

• Terry Crowley, The Mpakwithi dialect of Anguthimri (1981), page 189

• IPA^(key): /we/

we

1. water

   kô-ny we

   'my (glass/drink of) water'

• A Study of Space in Caac, an Oceanic Language

• wi, wu

From English we.

• IPA^(key): /wi/

we

1. we, us 1st person plural subject and object personal pronoun

we

1. our, 1st person plural possessive determiner

we (plural kewe)

1. (possessive subject marker) the (singular)

wẹ

1. water

• ạị

• Karl J. Franklin, Comparative Wordlist 1 of the Gulf District and adjacent areas (1975), page 67
• Karl James Franklin, Pacific Linguistics (1973, →ISBN, page 130: Polopa so/sou woman, cf. DAR sou female animal but we woman. Several multiple cognate sets appeared in the data. Daribi uses both ạị and wẹ for water; some Polopa speakers gave one term, some another. Both are probably known everywhere.

See wij.

• IPA^(key): /ʋə/

• Audio:

  (file)

we (personal pronoun)

1. we

• wij

• Jersey Dutch: wê

• ons

we

1. scar

From Proto-Oceanic *waiʀ, from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

we

1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

• André-Georges Haudricourt, Françoise Ozanne-Rivierre, Dictionnaire thématique des langues de la région de Hienghène (1982)

Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiR.

we

1. (Talur) water

• Bryan Hinton, The languages of Wetar, in Spices from the east: Papers in languages of eastern Indonesia (2000), page 121

From Proto-Oceanic *waiʀ, from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

• IPA^(key): /we/

we

1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

• Jean Claude Rivierre, Sabine Ehrhart, Raymond Diéla, Le Bwatoo: et les dialectes de la région de Koné (2006)

From Proto-Oceanic *waiʀ, from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

• IPA^(key): /we/

we

1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

• Jean Claude Rivierre, Sabine Ehrhart, Raymond Diéla, Le Bwatoo: et les dialectes de la région de Koné (2006)

From Proto-Oceanic *waiʀ, from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

we

1. water

• Leenhardt, M. (1946) Langues et dialectes de l'Austro-Mèlanèsie. Cited in: "ʰMoavekɛ" in Greenhill, S.J., Blust, R., & Gray, R.D. (2008). The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics. Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4:271–283.

From w +‎ -e.

• IPA^(key): /we/, /wɛ/

we (plural we-i)

1. The name of the Latin script letter W/w.

• (Latin script letter names) litero; a, be, ce, che, de, e, fe, ge, he, i, je, ke, le, me, ne, o, pe, que, re, se, she, te, u, ve, we, xe, ye, ze ^{(Category: io:Latin letter names)}

From Dutch wee.

• IPA^(key): /we/, [we]

wé

1. The name of the Latin-script letter W/w.

• dabel yu (Standard Malay)

• (Latin-script letter names) huruf; a, be, ce, de, e, ef, ge, ha, i, je, ka, el, em, en, o, pe, ki, er, es, te, u, ve, we, eks, ye, zet

• “we” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

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

we

1. that
   • 2023, Yuunivorshal Deklarieshan a Yuuman Raits, United Nations, Aatikl 25:

     Uman we a mada an pikni disorv speshal kier an elp.

     Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance.

     (literally, “Women that are mothers, and children, deserve special care and help.”)

Derived from English where.

we

1. where
   • 2012, Di Jamiekan Nyuu Testiment, Edinburgh: DJB, published 2012, →ISBN, Maak 14:14:

     Wen im go iina wan ous, tel di uona fi di ous se, "Di tiicha se fi aks yu se: We di ges ruum de we mi kyan nyam di Paasuova fuud wid mi speshal falara dem?"

     and when he goes into a house, ask the owner where I and my disciples can celebrate the Passover.

• we at majstro.com

we

1. Rōmaji transcription of ゑ
2. Rōmaji transcription of ヱ
3. Rōmaji transcription of うぇ
4. Rōmaji transcription of ウェ

From Proto-Oceanic *waiʀ, from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

we

1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

• André-Georges Haudricourt, Françoise Ozanne-Rivierre, Dictionnaire thématique des langues de la région de Hienghène (1982)

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɛ/
• Rhymes: -ɛ
• Syllabification: we

we

1. Alternative form of w.

• IPA^(key): /wɛ(ː)/

we (second person singular)

1. you, thou

• -aku (“your, thy”)

• IPA^(key): /wɛ/

we (third person singular)

1. s/he

• -ake (“his/her”)

Independent personal pronouns in Kikuyu

	singular	plural
1st person	niĩ	ithuĩ
2nd person	we /wɛ(ː)/	inyuĩ
3rd person	we /wɛ/	o

• “we” in Benson, T.G. (1964). Kikuyu-English dictionary, p. 561. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

we

1. water

• Greenhill, S. J., Blust. R, Gray, R. D. (2008) “The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics”, in Evolutionary Bioinformatics‎^[6], number 4, archived from the original on 18 April 2017, pages 271-283
• Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen; et al. (2023) “*wahiR”, in the CLDF dataset from The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (2010–), →DOI

• IPA^(key): /wɛ/

we [with locative]

1. Alternative form of w (especially before labial consonants and consonant clusters)

we (we⁵／we⁰, Zhuyin ˙ㄨㄝ)

1. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 喂

we

1. Nonstandard spelling of wē.

• 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.

we (Raguileo spelling)

1. new, recent

• Wixaleyiñ: Mapucezugun-wigkazugun pici hemvlcijka (Wixaleyiñ: Small Mapudungun-Spanish dictionary), Beretta, Marta; Cañumil, Dario; Cañumil, Tulio, 2008.

from Old English wē (“we”), from Proto-West Germanic *wiʀ, from Proto-Germanic *wīz, *wiz (“we”), from Proto-Indo-European *wéy (“we (plural)”). Compare wit (first person dual pronoun).

• whe, ve, woe, wue, weo, wæ, vue, hwe, huue

• IPA^(key): /weː/

we (accusative us, we, genitive oure, possessive determiner oures)

2. First-person plural pronoun: we
3. First-person plural accusative pronoun: us

• English: we
  • Jamaican Creole: wi
  • Sranan Tongo: wi
• Scots: we, oo
• Yola: wough, wu, wee, we, w'

• “we, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 10 May 2018.

From Old English wēa, from Proto-Germanic *waiwô. Doublet of wowe.

• wee, wea, wæ

• IPA^(key): /wɛː/, /weː/

we (uncountable)

2. woe, grief, sadness

• “wẹ̄, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-12-30.

• Certainly: Stem vowel: ê⁴
  • (originally) IPA^(key): /weː/

From Old Saxon hwē, from Proto-West Germanic *hwaʀ, from Proto-Germanic *hwaz.

wê (accusative wēne or wen, dative wēme or wem, genitive wes)

1. (interrogative, masculine, feminine) who

From Proto-Germanic *wiz.

wê

1. (personal, first person, in the plural, nominative) Alternative form of wî.

we

1. blood

• Gary Holton and Laura Robinson, The Internal History of the Alor-Pantar language family, in The Alor-Pantar languages: History and Typology, edited by Marian Klamer
• transnewguinea.org (wæ), ASJP 1 (wE i.e. wɛ), ASJP 2 (we)

From Proto-Oceanic *waiʀ, from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

we

1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

• André-Georges Haudricourt, Françoise Ozanne-Rivierre, Dictionnaire thématique des langues de la région de Hienghène (1982)

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

we

1. water

• Darrell T. Tryon, New Hebrides languages: an internal classification (1976)
• George William Grace, The position of the Polynesian languages within the Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) language family (1959)

From Old Frisian wī, from Proto-Germanic *wīz, from Proto-Indo-European *wéy.

we (Mooring)

1. we (first-person plural personal pronoun)

• wi (Föhr-Amrum)
• wü (Sylt)

From Proto-Oceanic *waiʀ, from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

we

1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

• Jim Hollyman, K. J. Hollyman, Études sur les langues du Nord de la Nouvelle-Calédonie (1991), page 81

• wœ̄ — Northumbrian
• wæ
• ƿē

From Proto-Germanic *wiz, *wīz, from Proto-Indo-European *wéy, plural of *éǵh₂.

Cognate with Old Frisian wī (West Frisian wy), Old Saxon wī (Low German wi), Old Dutch wī (Dutch wij), Old High German wir (German wir), Old Norse vér (Danish and Swedish vi), Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍃 (weis).

• IPA^(key): /weː/

wē (personal pronoun)

1. we (nominative plural of iċ)
   • c. 990, Wessex Gospels, Matthew 6:9-13

     Fæder ūre, þū þe eart in heofenum, sī þīn nama ġehālgod. Tōbecume þīn rīċe. Ġeweorþe þīn willa on eorþan, swā swā on heofenum. Ūrne dæġhwāmlīċan hlāf syle ūs tōdæġ. And forġȳf ūs ūre ġyltas, swā swā wē forġȳfaþ ūrum ġyltendum. And ne ġelǣde þū ūs on costnunge, ac alȳs ūs of yfle: sōþlīċe.

     Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on Earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

• Middle English: we, whe, ve, woe, wue, weo, wæ, vue, hwe, huue
  • English: we
    • Jamaican Creole: wi
    • Sranan Tongo: wi
  • Scots: we, oo
  • Yola: wough, wu, wee, we, w'

• IPA^(key): /we/

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *waʀi, from Proto-Austronesian *waʀi. Doublet of wari.

we

1. sun
2. day

Zoetmulder used Old Javanese we as primary entry for sun and day sense, while Old Javanese wwe used for water as primary entry.

• > Javanese: ꦮꦺ (wé) (inherited)

we

1. Alternative spelling of wwe (“water”)

• "we" in P.J. Zoetmulder with the collaboration of S.O. Robson, Old Javanese-English Dictionary. 's-Gravenhage: M. Nijhoff, 1982.

• IPA^(key): (10^th–15^th CE) /vɛ/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /vɛ/

we

1. Alternative form of w

From Proto-Oceanic *waiʀ, from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

we

1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

• André-Georges Haudricourt, Françoise Ozanne-Rivierre, Dictionnaire thématique des langues de la région de Hienghène (1982)

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɛ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛ
• Syllabification: we

we

1. Alternative form of w, used mostly before words that begin with consonant clusters.

• oo

Inherited from Middle English we, from Old English wē (“we”), from Proto-West Germanic *wiʀ, from Proto-Germanic *wīz, *wiz (“we”), from Proto-Indo-European *wéy (“we (plural)”). Cognate with English we.

• (stressed) IPA^(key): /wi/
  • (Southern Scots) IPA^(key): /wəi/ (sometimes spelled wey)
• (unstressed) IPA^(key): /wə/ (sometimes spelled wa)

we

1. we
2. us

• “we, pers. pron.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 24 May 2024, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.
• “we, pron.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 24 May 2024, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɛ/
• Rhymes: -ɛ
• Syllabification: we

we

1. Alternative form of w, used mostly before words that begin with consonant clusters

• IPA^(key): /ˈvə/
• Rhymes: -və
• Syllabification: we

we

1. Alternative form of w.

• Lorentz, Friedrich (1912) “we”, in Slovinzisches Wörterbuch‎^[7] (in German), volume 2, Saint Petersburg: ОРЯС ИАН, page 1279

Variant of güey, representing the relaxed pronunciation of the /gw/ sounds and in some cases loss of the /i/ sound.

• IPA^(key): /ˈwe/ [ˈwe]
• Rhymes: -e
• Syllabification: we

we m or f by sense (plural wees)

1. (colloquial) dude, guy, buddy

   Synonyms: carnal, cuate, tonto, bato

2. (Mexico, colloquial slang) chump, punk, dumbass, idiot, jerk

cardinal numbers

Previous:	sas
Next:	tre

From Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁. Compare Tocharian B wi.

we f

1. two

• wu

From English where.

we

1. where
   • 1989, Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Port Moresby: Bible Society of Papua New Guinea, Jenesis 3:9:

     Tasol God, Bikpela i singaut long man na i tok, “Yu stap we?”

     →New International Version translation

Borrowed from Persian وَ (va).

we

1. and

we (definite accusative [please provide], plural [please provide])

1. The name of the Latin-script letter W/w.

we

1. Latin (ULY) transcription of ۋە (we)

we

1. water

• Greenhill, S.J., Blust. R, & Gray, R.D. (2008). The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics. Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4:271-283.

• IPA^(key): /weː/

we

1. Soft mutation of gwe.

• IPA^(key): /we/

we

1. leaf

• Clemens Voorhoeve (1982) The Makian languages and their neighbours‎^[8], Pacific linguistics

we

1. Alternative form of wough
   • 1867, CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 114, lines 7-9:

     and whilke we canna zei, albeit o' 'Governere,' 'Statesman,' an alike.

     and for which we have no words but of 'Governor,' 'Statesman,' &c.

   • 1867, CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 114, lines 21-23:

     Ye pace——yea, we mai zei, ye vaste pace whilke bee ee-stent owr ye londe zince th'ast ee-cam,

     The peace——yes, we may say the profound peace—which overspreads the land since your arrival,

   • 1867, CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 116, lines 6-8:

     Na oure gladès ana whilke we dellt wi' mattoke, an zing t'oure caulès wi plou,

     In our valleys where we were digging with the spade, or as we whistled to our horses in the plough,

• 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, page 114

From Proto-Oceanic *waiʀ, from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

we

1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

• Jim Hollyman, K. J. Hollyman, Études sur les langues du Nord de la Nouvelle-Calédonie (1999), page 81

• IPA^(key): /we/

we

1. head lice

we

1. three

• Beria-English English-Beria Dictionary [provisional] ADESK, Iriba, Kobe Department, Chad

-we

1. Combining stem of wena.