English

Proper noun

Ich

1. literal transcription of Freud’s German-language psychological term “Ich”, more often termed ego in English. See ego.

Anagrams

• chi
• CIH
• HCI
• hic

German

Noun

Ich n ‎(genitive Ichs, plural Ichs or Ich)

1. (psychology) ego, the Ich
2. self, me, him, etc.

   das wahre Ich‎

   the real me

Declension

Synonyms

• Ego

See also

• ich

English

Alternative forms

• Iche
• che
• 'ch-
• ch-

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /itʃ/, /ɪtʃ/

Pronoun

ich

1. (personal, obsolete) I.
   • 1529, John Skelton, Elynour Rummyng:

     "Behold," she sayd, "and se How bright I am of ble! Ich am not cast away, That can my husband say, [...]"

   • 1561, John Awdelay, The fraternitye of vacabondes:

     My maysters, ich am an old man, and halfe blinde, […]

   • 1568, Thomas Howell, Arbor of Amitie:

     With cap and knee, ich will serve thee, what should ich more declare.

   • 1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure:

     Kissyng and lying ich see is all one:
     And chave no mony, chul tell true therfore.

   • 1645, Thomas Davies, The Somersetshire Man's Complaint:

     Dost thinke 'chill labor to be poore, No no, ich haue a-doe..Ich will a plundering too.

   • 1706, Edward Phillips, The New World of English Words:

     Ich, a Word us'd for I in the Western Parts of England.

Usage notes

Ich was the form of I found in the dialects of the West Country, West Midlands, and Kent. It began to disappear from written English with the onset of the Chancery Standard in the 15th century, yet continued to see limited use through the middle of the 19th century.

The Northern dialectal form, ik (which derives from the same Old English root), likewise disappeared from writing with the onset of the Chancery Standard in the 15th century.

Derived terms

• nich

Etymology 2

Clipping of ichthyophthiriasis.

Alternative forms

• ick

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪk/

Noun

ich ‎(uncountable)

1. (ichthyology) Ichthyophthiriasis, a parasitic infection of freshwater fish caused by the ciliate Ichthyophthirius.
   • 1996, Edward J. Noga, Fish Disease: Diagnosis and Treatment, Iowa State University Press (2000), ISBN 0-8138-2558-X, page 95:

     Ich is one of the most common diseases of freshwater fish.

Anagrams

• chi, CIH, HCI, hic

Alemannic German

Alternative forms

• i
• ig (Bern)

Etymology

From Middle High German ich.

Pronunciation

• (Zurich) IPA^(key): /ix/, /i/ (unstressed), IPA^(key): [ɪːx] (stressed)

Pronoun

ich

1. I

Declension

Central Franconian

Alternative forms

• eich (Moselle Franconian, stressed)
• ech (some dialects of Ripuarian; Moselle Franconian, unstressed, enclitic)

Etymology

From Old High German ih. The expected form is ech; the variant ich is from a form *īh with expressive lengthening (compare the corresponding diphthong in Moselle Franconian).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /iɕ/, [iɕ]
  • IPA^(key): [eɕ] → [əɕ] → [ɕ] (unstressed; enclitic before a consonant)
  • IPA^(key): [ij] (enclitic before a vowel)
• The enclitic pronunciation is used after verbs and conjunctions (unless the pronoun is stressed).

Pronoun

ich

1. (some dialects of Ripuarian, including Kölsch) I; nominative of the first-person singular personal pronoun

   Dat senn ich op däm Fotto.

   That’s I (or: me) in this photo.

Crimean Gothic

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *ik, from Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂.

Pronoun

ich

1. I
   • 1562, Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq:

     Ich malthata. Ego dico.

German

Etymology

From Middle High German ich, from Old High German ih, from Proto-Germanic *ek, *ik, from Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪç/

Pronoun

ich

1. I

Inflection

¹Often capitalized, especially in letters

In contemporary German, the genitive forms of personal pronouns are restricted to formal style and are unfrequent even there. They may be used

• for the genitive object still found in a handful of verbs: Er erbarmte sich meiner. – "He had mercy on me". (Colloquially one would either use the dative case, or a prepositional object, or replace the verb with another.)
• after the preposition statt ("instead of, in place of"): Er kam statt meiner in die Mannschaft. – "He joined the team in my place." This sounds antiquated, and an meiner Statt or an meiner Stelle is preferable (in which case meiner is not a genitive, but a form of the possessive determiner mein).

Hunsrik

Etymology

From Middle High German ich, from Old High German ih, from Proto-Germanic *ek, *ik, from Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /iç/

Pronoun

ich

1. I

Inflection

Limburgish

Alternative forms

• iech
• ik

Etymology

From Old High German ih, from Proto-Germanic *ek, *ik.

Pronunciation

• (most dialects) IPA^(key): [ɪx]
• (Maastrict) IPA^(key): [ix]

Pronoun

ich ‎(personal)

1. I

Inflection

1. ↑ Dative is nowadays obsolete, use accusative instead.

Luo

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪ̀c/

Noun

ich

1. stomach

Middle English

Etymology

From Old English iċ ‎(“I”, pronoun), from Proto-Germanic *ek ‎(“I”, pronoun), from Proto-Indo-European *egom ‎(“I”), *éǵh₂.

Pronoun

ich

1. The Southern and sometimes Midland dialectal form of I, in Early English, corresponding to ik of the Northern dialect.

Middle High German

Etymology

From Old High German ih, from Proto-Germanic *ek, *ik.

Pronoun

ich

1. (personal) I

Declension

Descendants

• German: ich

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ix]

Pronoun

ich

1. possessive pronoun for oni or one, namely their or theirs; indeclinable.

Pronoun

ich

1. genitive of oni; them
2. genitive of one; them
3. personal masculine accusative of oni; them

See also

• nich

Slovak

Pronoun

ich

(The genitive plural and accusative plural of on (he), ona (she), and one (it).)

1. (possessive) their, theirs
2. them

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English ich, from Old English iċ ‎(“I”, pronoun), from Proto-Germanic *ek ‎(“I”, pronoun), from Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂ ‎(“I”). Compare obsolete English ich.

Pronoun

ich

1. I (first person singular pronoun)

See also

• 'ch-

Yucatec Maya

Noun

ich (plural icho’ob)

1. (anatomy) eye
2. face
3. fruit