Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

We

(wē)

ron.

;

pl.

of I.

[

oss.

Our

(our)

Ours

(ourz)

;

obj.

(ŭs)

. See

[As.

wē

; akin to OS.

wī

, OFries. & LG.

, D.

wij

, G.

wir

, Icel.

vēr

, Sw. & Dan.

, Goth.

weis

, Skr.

vayam

. √190.]

The plural nominative case of the pronoun of the first person; the word with which a person in speaking or writing denotes a number or company of which he is one, as the subject of an action expressed by a verb.

☞ We is frequently used to express men in general, including the speaker. We is also often used by individuals, as authors, editors, etc., in speaking of themselves, in order to avoid the appearance of egotism in the too frequent repetition of the pronoun I. The plural style is also in use among kings and other sovereigns, and is said to have been begun by King John of England. Before that time, monarchs used the singular number in their edicts. The German and the French sovereigns followed the example of King John in

a. d.

1200.

Webster 1828 Edition

We

WE

, pron. plu. of I; or rather a different word, denoting the person speaking and another or others with him. I and John, the speaker calls we, or I and John and Thomas; or I and many others. In the objective case,

us.

We is used to express men in general, including the speaker.

Vice seen too oft, familiar with her face, we first endure, then pity, then embrace.

Definition 2024

we

See also: WE, w/e, wè, wē, wě, and wɛ

English

Pronoun

we ‎(first-person plural, nominative case, objective case us, reflexive ourselves, possessive (with noun) our, possessive (without noun) ours)

(personal) The speakers/writers, or the speaker/writer and at least one other person (not the person being addressed). (This is the exclusive we.)
(personal) The speaker(s)/writer(s) and the person(s) being addressed. (This is the inclusive we.)
(personal) The speaker/writer alone. (This use of we is the editorial we, used by writers and others, including royalty—the royal we—as a less personal substitute for I. The reflexive case of this sense of we is ourself.)
(personal) The plural form of you, including everyone being addressed.
- 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.
How are we all tonight?‎
(personal, generally considered patronising) A second- or third-person pronoun for a person in the speaker's care.
How are we feeling this morning?‎

Translations

the speakers, or the speaker(s) and other person(s) not being addressed (exclusive we: he or she or they and I)

Abkhaz: ҳара ‎(ḥārā)
Albanian: ne (sq)
Alviri-Vidari: جیمه ‎(jime)
American Sign Language: 1^o-f@IpsiChest-FingerBack RoundHoriz 1^o-f@ContraChest-FingerBack (also inclusive and exclusive forms (not listed), as well as numeral incorporation)
Ancient Greek: ἡμεῖς ‎(hēmeîs)
Arabic: نَحْنُ ‎(naḥnu)

Egyptian Arabic: احنا ‎(ʾíḥna)

Tunisian Arabic: أَحْنَا m, f ‎(ʾaḥnā)
Aragonese: nusatros
Aramaic:

Syriac: ܐ̄ܢܲܚܢܲܢ ‎(naḥnan), ܚ̱ܢܲܢ ‎(ḥənan)

Hebrew: אֲנַחְנָא ‎(ʾănaḥnā), אֲנַן ‎(ʾănan)
Armenian: մենք (hy) ‎(menkʿ)
Old Armenian: մեք ‎(mekʿ)
Aromanian: noi
Asturian: nosotros (ast) m pl, nosotras (ast) f pl
Azeri: biz (az)
Bakhtiari: ایما ‎(imâ)
Bashkir: беҙ ‎(beð)
Basque: gu (eu)
Bavarian: mia
Beja: hinin
Belarusian: мы (be) ‎(my)
Bengali: আমরা ‎(āmrā)
Bislama: (dual inclusive) yumitu, (trial inclusive) yumitri, (plural inclusive) yumi, (dual exclusive) mitufala, (trial exclusive) mitrifala, (plural exclusive) mifala
Breton: ni (br)
Bulgarian: ни́е (bg) ‎(níe)
Burmese: ကျုပ်တို့ ‎(kyuptui.), တို့ (my) ‎(tui.), ကျွန်တော်တို့ ‎(kywantautui.) (male speaker), ကျွန်မတို့ ‎(kywanma.tui.) (female speaker), ငါတို့ ‎(ngatui.) (informal)
Catalan: nosaltres (ca)
Chamicuro: a'ti
Chechen: вай ‎(waj)
Chinese:

Cantonese: 我哋 ‎(ngo⁵ dei⁶)

Mandarin: 我們 (zh), 我们 (zh) ‎(wǒmen) (generic in most dialects, but exclusive in some)

Min Nan: 阮 (zh-min-nan) ‎(góan, gún)

Teochew: 阮 (zh-min-nan) ‎(ŋ˥˨), ng2
Chuvash: эпир ‎(epir)
Classical Nahuatl: tehhuān, tehhuāntin
Cree: kiyanaw ‎(kiyanaw)
Czech: my (cs)
Dalmatian: nu
Danish: vi (da)
Dutch: wij (nl), we (nl)
Dyirbal: ŋaliɖi] (dual), ŋanaɖi] pl
Efik: nnyin
Esperanto: ni (eo)
Estonian: meie (et), me (et)
Extremaduran: nusotrus
Fijian: (dual) ^{(please verify)}keirau, (paucal) ^{(please verify)}keitou, ^{(please verify)}keimami pl
Finnish: me (fi)
French: (1,2) nous (fr) (formal), on (fr) (informal)
Old French: nos
Friulian: nô, noaltris
Galician: nós (gl) m pl, f pl
Georgian: ჩვენ ‎(čven)
German: wir (de)
Alemannic German: mir
Greek: εμείς (el) ‎(emeís) (emeís)
Gurani: ئێمە ‎(êmæ)
Hausa: (independent form) ^{(please verify)}múu, (perfective 1) ^{(please verify)}mún, (perfective 2) ^{(please verify)}múkà, (neg. perfective) ^{(please verify)}bàmù...bá, (future) ^{(please verify)}záamù, (predictive) ^{(please verify)}mâa, (habitual) ^{(please verify)}múkàn, (subjunctive) ^{(please verify)}mù, (continuous 1) ^{(please verify)}múnàa, (continuous 2) ^{(please verify)}múkè(e), (neg. continuous) ^{(please verify)}báamàa
Hawaiian: (dual) māua, mākou pl
Hebrew: אנחנו (he) ‎(anákhnu), אנו (he) ‎(ánu)
Hindi: हम (hi) ‎(ham)
Hopi: itam
Hungarian: mi (hu)
Icelandic: við (is)
Ido: ni (io)
Indonesian: kami (id)
Interlingua: nos
Irish: muid (conjunctive), sinn (disjunctive), muidne, sinne (emphatic)
Old Irish: sní
Istriot: nu
Italian: noi (it), noialtri
Japanese: 私達 (ja) ‎(わたしたち, watashi-tachí), 我ら ‎(われら, waréra), 我々 (ja) ‎(われわれ, wareware), 僕ら ‎(bokura), (mainly vulgar/informal) 俺達 ‎(oretachi), (dialect) 俺等 ‎(oira), うち (ja) ‎(uchi), 僕達 ‎(bokutachi), 私ども ‎(watashi-domo)

Kalmyk: бидн ‎(bidn)
Kannada: ನಾವು (kn) ‎(nāvu)
Kazakh: біз (kk) ‎(biz)
Khmer: យើង (km) ‎(yəəng)
Korean: 우리 (ko) ‎(uri), 저희 (ko) ‎(jeohui) (humble)
Kurdish: em (ku), me (ku)
Kyrgyz: биз (ky) ‎(biz)
Ladino: mozotros, מוזוטרוס
Lao: ພວກເຮົາ ‎(phūak hao)
Latgalian: mes
Latin: nōs (la)
Latvian: mēs (lv)
Lithuanian: mes (lt)
Lojban: mi (jbo), mi'a
Low German: wi (nds)
Macedonian: ние ‎(nie)
Malay: kami (ms)
Manchu: be ‎(be)
Manx: mayd, shin, emphatic shinyn
Mazanderani: اما ‎(amâ)
Mongolian: бид (mn) ‎(bid)
Navajo: nihí duoplural, danihí pl
Neapolitan: nuje
Nepali: हामी (ne) ‎(hāmī)
Ngarrindjeri: ngurn
Northern Sami: ^{(please verify)}moai dual, ^{(please verify)}mii pl
Norwegian:

Bokmål: vi (no)

Nynorsk: me (nn), vi
Novial: (1,2) nus
Occitan: nos, nosautres (oc)
Ojibwe: niinawind
Old Church Slavonic: мꙑ ‎(my)
Old English: (dual) wit (ang), wē (ang) pl
Persian: ما (fa) ‎(mâ)
Pipil: tejemet, tehemet
Polish: my (pl)
Portuguese: nós (pt), a gente (pt) (informal)
Quechua: ñuqayku (qu), ñogaiku, nogakuna
Rapa Nui: maua (dual), matou (plural)
Romanian: noi (ro)
Romansch: nus, nous
Russian: мы (ru) ‎(my)
Sardinian: nois, noso, nosu
Scottish Gaelic: sinn (nonemphatic), sinne (emphatic)
Serbo-Croatian:

Cyrillic: mi

Roman: ми
Sicilian: nuàutri (scn), nui
Sinhalese: අපි (si) ‎(api)
Slovak: my
Slovene: mí (sl) m, mé f, n
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: my
Southern Altai: бис ‎(bïs)
Spanish: nosotros (es) m, nosotras (es) f
Swahili: sisi
Swedish: vi (sv)
Tagalog: (ng form) ^{(please verify)}namin, (sa form) ^{(please verify)}amin (tl), (unmarked form) ^{(please verify)}kami (tl)
Tajik: мо (tg) ‎(mo)
Tamil: நாங்கள் (ta) ‎(nāṅkaḷ)
Taos: ną
Tatar: без (tt) ‎(bez)
Telugu: మేము (te) ‎(mēmu)
Thai: เรา (th) ‎(rao)
Tigrinya: ንሕና ‎(nəḥna)
Tlingit: uháan
Tok Pisin: mipela, mitupela (dual)
Turkish: biz (tr)
Turkmen: biz (tk)
Udihe: бу ‎(bu)
Ukrainian: ми (uk) ‎(my)
Urdu: هَم ‎(ham)
Uyghur: بىز (ug) ‎(biz)
Uzbek: biz (uz)
Venetian: noaltri (vec), noantri, nualtri, naltri
Vietnamese: chúng tôi (vi) (exclusive), chúng ta (vi) (inclusive)
Volapük: obs (vo)
Welsh: ni, (emphatic) ninnau
West Frisian: wy (fy)
Yiddish: מיר ‎(mir)
Zazaki: ma
Zulu: thina
ǃXóõ: īh, (emphatic) īhʻī, īsî, (emphatic) īsîʻī

the speaker(s) and the listener(s) (inclusive we: you and I)

Bislama: ^{(please verify)}yumi, (dual) ^{(please verify)}yumitupela, (trial) ^{(please verify)}yumitripela, ^{(please verify)}yumipela pl
Chinese:

Mandarin: 咱們 (zh), 咱们 (zh) ‎(zánmen) (dialectal)

Min Nan: 咱 (zh-min-nan) ‎(lán), 咱人 (zh-min-nan) ‎(lán-lâng)

Teochew: 俺 (zh-min-nan) ‎(naŋ˥˨), nang2
Fijian: (dual) ^{(please verify)}kedaru, (paucal) ^{(please verify)}kedatou, ^{(please verify)}keda pl
Hawaiian: (inclusive) kāua du, kākou pl; (exclusive) māua du, mākou pl
Indonesian: kita (id)
Kannada: ನಾವು (kn) ‎(nāvu)
Latvian: mēs (lv)
Lojban: mi'o (jbo) ((you and I)), ma'a ((you and I and some other(s)))
Malay: kita (ms)

Manchu: ᠮᡠᠰᡝ ‎(muse)
Ojibwe: giinawind
Quechua: ñuqanchik (qu)
Rapa Nui: taua (dual), tatou (plural)
Tagalog: (ng form) ^{(please verify)}natin, (sa form) ^{(please verify)}atin (tl), (unmarked form) ^{(please verify)}tayo (tl)
Tamil: நாம் (ta) ‎(nām), யாம் (ta) ‎(yām)
Telugu: మనము (te) ‎(manamu)
Tok Pisin: yumi, yumipela
Udihe: минти ‎(minti)
Venetian: noi doi
Vietnamese: chúng ta (vi)

Determiner

The speakers/writers, or the speaker/writer and at least one other person.
We Canadians like to think of ourselves as different.

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: so · me · an · #42: we · who · said · would

Anagrams

Caac

Determiner

water
kô-ny we
'my (glass/drink of) water'

References

A Study of Space in Caac, an Oceanic Language

Chuukese

Determiner

we ‎(plural kewe)

(possessive subject marker) the (singular)

Dadibi

Noun

wẹ

water

Synonyms

ạị

References

Karl J. Franklin, Comparative Wordlist 1 of the Gulf District and adjacent areas (1975), page 67
Karl James Franklin, Pacific Linguistics (1973, ISBN 0858831007), 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.

Dutch

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ʋə/

Etymology

See wij.

Pronoun

we ‎(personal pronoun)

Inflection

Dutch personal pronouns

	subject		object		possessive			reflexive	genitive⁵
singular	full	unstr.	full	unstr.	full	unstr.	pred.
1st person	ik	'k¹	mij	me	mijn	m'n¹	mijne	me	mijner
2nd person	jij	je	jou	je	jouw	je	jouwe	je	jouwer
2nd person archaic or regiolectal	gij	ge	u	–	uw	–	uwe	u	uwer
2nd person formal	u	–	u	–	uw	–	uwe	zich	uwer
3rd person masculine	hij	ie¹	hem	'm¹	zijn	z'n¹	zijne	zich	zijner
3rd person feminine	zij	ze	haar	h'r¹, 'r¹, d'r¹	haar	h'r¹, 'r¹, d'r¹	hare	zich	harer
3rd person neuter	het	't¹	het	't¹	zijn	z'n¹	zijne	zich	zijner
plural
1st person	wij	we	ons	–	ons, onze²	–	onze	ons	onzer
2nd person	jullie	je	jullie	je	jullie	je	–	je	–
2nd person archaic or regiolectal⁶	gij	ge	u	–	uw	–	uwe	u	uwer
2nd person formal	u	–	u	–	uw	–	uwe	zich	uwer
3rd person	zij	ze	hen³, hun⁴	ze	hun	–	hunne	zich	hunner
¹⁾ Not as common in written language. ²⁾ Inflected as an adjective. ³⁾ In prescriptivist use, used only as direct object (accusative). ⁴⁾ In prescriptivist use, used only as indirect object (dative).				⁵⁾Archaic. Nowadays used for formal, literary or poetic purposes, and in fixed expressions. ⁶⁾ To differentiate from the singular gij, and in a similar vein to "you lot" or "you guys" in English, it is common to use gijlui ("you people") or gijlieden ("you people") or one of their contracted variants, and their corresponding objects, possessives and reflexives, in the plural.

Synonyms

Fwâi

Etymology

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

Noun

water (clear liquid H₂O)

References

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

Galoli

Noun

(Talur) water

References

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

Haeke

Etymology

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

Noun

water (clear liquid H₂O)

References

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

Haveke

Etymology

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

Noun

water (clear liquid H₂O)

References

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

Ido

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /we/, /wɛ/

Noun

we ‎(plural we-i)

The name of the Latin script letter W/w.

Japanese

Romanization

rōmaji reading of ゑ
rōmaji reading of ヱ
rōmaji reading of うぇ
rōmaji reading of ウェ

Jawe

Etymology

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

Noun

water (clear liquid H₂O)

References

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

Lamboya

Noun

water

References

ABVD
Blust's Austronesian Comparative Dictionary

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [wɛ]

Preposition

we ‎(with locative; especially before labial consonants and consonant clusters)

Alternative form of w

Mapudungun

Adjective

we ‎(using Raguileo Alphabet)

new, recent

References

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

Middle Low German

Pronunciation

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

Etymology 1

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

Pronoun

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

(interrogative, masculine, feminine) who

Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *wiz.

Pronoun

wê

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

Nedebang

Noun

blood

References

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)

Nemi

Etymology

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

Noun

water (clear liquid H₂O)

References

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

Nyâlayu

Etymology

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

Noun

water (clear liquid H₂O)

References

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

Old English

Etymology

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).

Pronunciation

Pronoun

wē ‎(personal pronoun)

we (nominative plural form of iċ)

Descendants

Middle English:
- English: we

Pije

Etymology

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

Noun

water (clear liquid H₂O)

References

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

Polish

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *vъ(n), from Proto-Indo-European *én

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /vɛ/

Preposition

we ‎(before words that begin with awkward consonant clusters)

(+ locative) in
(+ accusative) into, in

Spanish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /we/, /wei/

Etymology

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

Noun

we m, f ‎(plural wees)

(colloquial) dude, guy, buddy
(Mexico, colloquial slang) chump, punk, dumbass, idiot, jerk

Synonyms

Tocharian A

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *dwóy(h₁). Compare also wu.

Numeral

we f

(cardinal) two

Related terms

Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English where.

Adverb

where
- 1989, Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Bible Society of Papua New Guinea, Genesis 3:9 (translation here):
  Tasol God, Bikpela i singaut long man na i tok, “Yu stap we?”

This entry has fewer than three known examples of actual usage, the minimum considered necessary for clear attestation, and may not be reliable. Tok Pisin is subject to a special exemption for languages with limited documentation. If you speak it, please consider editing this entry or adding citations. See also Help and the Community Portal.

Turkmen

Noun

we ‎(definite accusative }}}, plural }}})

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

Welsh

Noun

Soft mutation of gwe.

Yuaga

Etymology

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

Noun

water (clear liquid H₂O)

References

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

Zulu

Pronoun

-we

Combining stem of wena.

Full noun prefix:	–
Basic noun prefix:	–
Subject concord:	u-, -wu-
Object concord:	-ku-
Possessive concord:	–
Adjective concord:	omu-², om-
Relative concord:	o-
Pronoun:	wena, -we, -kho¹
¹ With possessive concords. ² With single-syllable adjectives.
See Appendix:Zulu concords for a full table.

Etymology

From Middle English we, from Old English wē ‎(“we”), 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”).

Pronunciation

(UK) enPR: wē, IPA^(key): /wiː/
(US) enPR: wē, IPA^(key): /wi/
Homophones: wee, Wii, whee (in accents with the wine-whine merger)
Rhymes: -iː

IPA^(key): /weː/