WE
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Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
we¹
- /wiː/ Canada, UK
- /wi/ US
Sounds like oui, wee, Wii (wine–whine merger), whee · Rhymes with -iː
Where it comes from
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *wéyder.
Proto-Germanic *wīz
Proto-West Germanic *wiʀ
Old English wē
Middle English we
English 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).
pronoun us · our · ours · ourselves · ourself
- Excluding the person(s) being addressed. (This is the exclusive we.) We are here to arrest you.
- Including the person(s) being addressed. (This is the inclusive we.) We need to have a talk, you and me.
- 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.) We will in due course state our reasons for publishing the name of the accused.
- Any other entity that the speaker is a part of or identifies with, such as place of employment or education, nation, region, language, etc. I went to watch our school football match against Puddletown High. We lost 2-0.
- People in general. We live and learn.
- The sovereign alone in his or her capacity as monarch. (This is the royal we. The reflexive case of this sense of we is ourself.) We are Queen of all these Isles.
- Everyone being addressed. Good evening everyone. How are we all tonight?
- An individual being addressed; used especially to a person in the speaker's care, or to whom advice or instruction is being given. (Sometimes called the nurse's we or the doctor's we.) Hello Mrs Miggins. How are we feeling this morning?
- Used to refer to a third person, especially someone in the speaker's care. "I've just been to see Mrs Miggins." — "And how is she?" — "I'm afraid we aren't too good today."
- Used to imply connection between the speaker's experiences or activities and a group of listeners. (Compare the plural of modesty.) Hey guys, in this video I'll show you how I make my upside-down sponge cake. First we take 200 g of butter and we whisk in 200 g of sugar. Next, we ...
- Used in explanatory or procedural writing, such as mathematical explanations, to imply inclusion of the reader in the undertaking. To solve the equation, we first collect all the terms in x on one side.
- Used when talking to oneself to refer to oneself. Now then ... let me see ... I hope I'm doing this right ... if we just connect these two wires together ...
- Us.
- The side which is keeping score.
determiner
- Designates the speaker(s)/writer(s) as belonging to or constituting the stated category of people. We Canadians like to think of ourselves as different.
we²
- /wə/
pronoun
- us He was a propa gadgie, and always bought we drinks after a long shift.
WE³
proper noun
- Initialism of Western Europe.Western Europe
noun WEs
- Initialism of war establishment.war establishment
We⁴
pronoun
- Honorific alternative letter-case form of of we, sometimes used when speaking as an important figure or figures.of we “It seems to me that we are losing sight of the fact that we are artists,” said Miss Madder to Mr. Ehrlebach one evening about a week later, during one of his calls. / “We, with a capital ‘W,’” laughed Miss Larkin, mimicking Rose’s conscious air. / “Well, Mr. Ehrlebach is, anyway, and he ought to be
