I
Language: English
Part of speech: pron
Pronunciation: enpr: ī
ipa: /aɪ/
ipa: [aɪ]
ipa: [äj]
ipa: /aː/
ipa: [ɑj]
ipa: [ʌj]
ipa: [aj]
ipa: [ɑɪ]
ipa: [aː]
ipa: [ɑe̯]
ipa: /aɪ/
note: Local Dublin
ipa: /əɪ/
note: Local Dublin
ipa: /ɐɪ/
note: Working-class
ipa: /oɪ/
ipa: /ɛɪ/
ipa: [æj]
ipa: [äɪ]
ipa: [ɐɪ]
ipa: [əj]
rhymes: -aɪ
homophone: eye
homophone: aye
homophone: ay
Forms: form: me
form: my
form: mine
form: myself
Etymology: From Middle English I (also ik, ich), from Old English ih (also ic), from Proto-West Germanic *ik, from Proto-Germanic *ik, *ek (“I”), from Proto-Indo-European *eǵh₂óm (“I”).
Cognate with Scots I, ik, A (“I”), Saterland Frisian iek (“I”), West Frisian ik (“I”), Dutch ik (“I”), Low German ik (“I”), German ich (“I”), Bavarian i (“I”), Yiddish איך (ikh, “I”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål jeg (“I”), Norwegian Nynorsk eg (“I”), Swedish jag (“I”), Icelandic ég, eg (“I”), Gothic 𐌹𐌺 (ik, “I”), and more remotely with Latin ego (“I”), Ancient Greek ἐγώ (egṓ, “I”), Russian я (ja, “I”), Lithuanian aš (“I”), Armenian ես (es, “I”), Northern Kurdish ez, Sanskrit अहम् (ahám, “I”), Hittite 𒌑𒊌 (ūk, “I”). See also English ich. Doublet of ego and Ich.
Capitalized since 13th century to mark it as a distinct word and prevent misreading and omission (due to cursive writing).
Senses: examples: text: […]It ill beſeemes a knight of gentle ſort, / Such as ye haue him boaſted, to beguyle / A ſimple maide, and worke ſo hainous tort, / In ſhame of knighthood, as I largely can report.
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 414:
text: Here I am, sir.
ref: 1854, Gustave Chouquet, Easy Conversations in French, page 9:
text: I know I have a pen, though…
ref: 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
glosses: The speaker or writer, referred to as the grammatical subject, of a sentence.
examples: text: Mom drove my sister and I to school.
text: Sweet Baſſanio, My ſhips haue all miſcarried, my Creditors grow cruell, my eſtate is very low: my bond to the Iew is forfet, and ſince in paying it, it is impoſſible I ſhould liue, all debts are cleered betweene you and I if I might but ſee you at my death.
ref: c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
text: 1980, Bob Marley, Redemption Song
Old pirates, yes, they rob I
Sold I to the merchant ships
Minutes after they took I
From the bottomless pit.
text: Step inside, see the Devil in I
You'll realize I'm not your Devil anymore
ref: 2014, “The Devil in I”, in .5: The Gray Chapter, performed by Slipknot:
glosses: The speaker or writer, referred to as the grammatical object, of a sentence.
Synonyms: word: ich
word: ch
word: my ass
word: m'ass
word: muggins
word: yours truly
english: phonetic spelling
translation: phonetic spelling
word: Ah
Derived terms: and I claim my five pounds
as I live and breathe
can I smoke
could I get the bill
damned if I know
I can't lie
I come in peace
I do not know it
I doubt it
I fear
I fuck you not
I hardly even know her
I hardly know her
I kill you later
I know it
I like to see you try
I like turtles
I'll believe it when I see it
I'm in this photo and I don't like it
I never did
I never miss
I-novel
in this essay I will
I see it in someone's eyes
I shit you not
I swear
I think not
I wouldn't piss on someone if they were on fire
lyrical I
may I pass through
or should I say
if I care
though I say it who should not
though I say it who should not say it
what can I tell you
what did I tell you
what do I care
Related terms: word: Ime
word: me
word: myselfmemysen
word: mine
word: mymineme
word: we
word: us
word: ourselvesourselfoursen
word: oursourn
word: our
word: you
word: yourselfyoursen
word: yoursyourn
word: your
word: thou
word: thee
word: thyselftheeselfthysen
word: thine
word: thythine
word: youye
word: yourselves
word: you ally'all you guys
word: y'allselves
word: all yours y'all's you guys' your guys'
word: all your y'all's your all's you guys' your guys'
word: he
word: him
word: himselfhisselfhissen
word: hishisn
word: his
word: she
word: her
word: herselfhersen
word: hershern
word: ithit
word: itselfhitself
word: itshis
word: itshishits
word: they
word: them
word: themself
word: themselves
word: theirs
word: their
word: one
word: oneself
word: –
word: one's
word: themhem
word: 'em
word: themselvestheirsen
word: theirstheirn
word: The following table shows a list of English personal pronoun
word: including archaic and dialectal forms. Dialectal and obsolete
word: archaic forms are in italics. 1 See Appendix:English third-person singular pronouns for attested neopronoun.