Etymology

we

W4E1

Today it means: Excluding the person(s) being addressed. (This is the exclusive we.) Full definition →

Middle English we ← Old English wē ← Proto-West Germanic *wiʀ
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we · pronoun, determiner1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*wéy
  2. Proto-Germanic*wīz
  3. Proto-West Germanic*wiʀ
  4. Old Englishwē
  5. Middle Englishwe
  6. English todaywe

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).

we · pronoun2

Case extension of nominative we, used in the objective case in Tyneside English.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.