my
Translingual
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English mi, my, apocopated form of min, myn, from Old English mīn (“my, mine”), from Proto-West Germanic *mīn, from Proto-Germanic *mīnaz (“my, mine”, pron.) (possessive of *ek (“I”)), from Proto-Indo-European *méynos (“my; mine”).
Cognate with West Frisian myn (“my”), Afrikaans my (“my”), Dutch mijn (“my”), German mein (“my”), Swedish min (“my”). More at me.
Determiner
my
- First-person singular possessive determiner. See Appendix:Possessive#English.
- Belonging to me.
- I can't find my book.
- Associated with me.
- My seat at the restaurant was uncomfortable.
- Don't you know my name?
- I recognised him because he had attended my school.
- Related to me.
- My parents won't let me go out tonight.
- 1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 10, lines 165-166:
- From what conſummate vertue I have choſe / This perfect Man, by merit call'd my Son,
- In the possession of me.
- I have to take my books back to the library soon.
- Belonging to me.
Derived terms
- cheers my dears
- I don't boil my cabbage twice
- I don't chew my cabbage twice
- kiss my balls
- my arse
- my b
- my bad
- my brother in Christ
- my eye
- my fellow Americans
- my foot
- my friend
- my giddy aunt
- my God
- my goodness
- my gosh
- my lady's washbowl
- my pleasure
- my point exactly
- my sainted aunt
- my sainted uncle
- my sides
- my son
- my stars
- my very educated mother just served us nine pizzas
- my very excellent mother just served us nine pizzas
- my watch has ended
- my way or the highway
- my word
- shiver my sides
- shiver my soul
- thank you for coming to my TED Talk
- the dog ate my homework
- welcome to my life
- whoops, there go my trousers
Related terms
Translations
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See also
Etymology 2
An abbreviation of an oath such as my word or my Lord
Derived terms
Afrikaans
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /məi/
See also
subjective | objective | possessive determiner | possessive pronoun | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
singular | 1st | ek | my | myne | ||
2nd | jy | jou | joune | |||
2nd, formal | u | u s’n | ||||
3rd, masc | hy | hom | sy | syne | ||
3rd, fem | sy | haar | hare | |||
3rd, neut | dit | sy | syne | |||
plural | 1st | ons | ons s’n | |||
2nd | julle / jul1 | julle s’n | ||||
3rd | hulle / hul1 | hulle s’n | ||||
1. The forms jul and hul are unstressed variants. They are used mostly in possessive function, but also otherwise, chiefly when the pronoun is repeated within the same sentence. |
See also
subjective | objective | possessive determiner | possessive pronoun | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
singular | 1st | ek | my | myne | ||
2nd | jy | jou | joune | |||
2nd, formal | u | u s’n | ||||
3rd, masc | hy | hom | sy | syne | ||
3rd, fem | sy | haar | hare | |||
3rd, neut | dit | sy | syne | |||
plural | 1st | ons | ons s’n | |||
2nd | julle / jul1 | julle s’n | ||||
3rd | hulle / hul1 | hulle s’n | ||||
1. The forms jul and hul are unstressed variants. They are used mostly in possessive function, but also otherwise, chiefly when the pronoun is repeated within the same sentence. |
Chinese Pidgin English
Pronoun
my
- I (subject pronoun)
- 1836 January, “Jargon spoken at Canton: how it originated and has grown into use; mode in which the Chinese learn English; examples of the language in common use between foreigners and Chinese”, in The Chinese Repository, volume IV, number 9, page 433:
- ‘My wanchee takee go away alla this cover, putee nother piece,’ replied I.
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- me (object pronoun)
- Synonym: me
- my (possessive pronoun)
Cornish
Alternative forms
- (Standard Cornish) me
Etymology
From Proto-Brythonic *mi, from Proto-Celtic *mī.
Czech
Etymology
Inherited from Old Czech my, from Proto-Slavic *my, from Proto-Indo-European *wéy.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈmɪ]
audio (file)
Declension
Related terms
Danish
Declension
neuter gender |
Singular | Plural | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | |
nominative | my | myet | myer | myerne |
genitive | mys | myets | myers | myernes |
Synonyms
References
- “my” in Den Danske Ordbog
Egyptian
Pronunciation
- (modern Egyptological) IPA(key): /miː/
- Conventional anglicization: my
References
- James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 86.
Lower Sorbian
Etymology
From Proto-Slavic *my, from Proto-Indo-European *nos.
Declension
Manx
Etymology
From Old Irish má, from Proto-Celtic *mā, *ma (compare Cornish and Breton mar), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂.
Old Czech
Etymology
Inherited from Proto-Slavic *my.
Declension
Singular | 1st person | 2nd person | Reflexive |
---|---|---|---|
Nominative | jáz, já | ty | — |
Genitive | mne, mě | tebe, tě | sebe, sě |
Dative | mně, mi | tobě, ti | sobě, si |
Accusative | mě, mne | tě, tebe | sě, sebe |
Locative | mně | tobě | sobě |
Instrumental | mnú | tobú, tebú | sobú, sebú |
Possessive | mój | tvój | svój |
Dual | 1st person | 2nd person | Reflexive |
Nominative | vě, va, ma | vy | — |
Genitive | najú | vajú | sebe, sě |
Dative | náma | váma | sobě, si |
Accusative | ny, najú | vy, vajú | sě, sebe |
Locative | najú | vajú | sobě |
Instrumental | náma | váma | sobú, sebú |
Possessive | náš, najú | váš, vajú | svój |
Plural | 1st person | 2nd person | Reflexive |
Nominative | my | vy | — |
Genitive | nás | vás | sebe, sě |
Dative | nám, nem | vám, vem | sobě, si |
Accusative | ny, nás | vy, vás | sě, sebe |
Locative | nás | vás | sobě |
Instrumental | námi | vámi | sobú, sebú |
Possessive | náš | váš | svój |
Descendants
- Czech: my
References
- Jan Gebauer (1903–1916) “my”, in Slovník staročeský (in Czech), Prague: Česká grafická společnost "unie", Česká akademie císaře Františka Josefa pro vědy, slovesnost a umění
Old Polish
Etymology
Inherited from Proto-Slavic *my. First attested in the 14th century.
Declension
References
- B. Sieradzka-Baziur, editor (2011–2015), “my, ny (?)”, in Słownik pojęciowy języka staropolskiego [Conceptual Dictionary of Old Polish] (in Polish), Kraków: IJP PAN, →ISBN
Polish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mɨ/
- (Middle Polish) IPA(key): /ˈmɨ/
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -ɨ
- Syllabification: my
Etymology 1
Inherited from Old Polish my.
Pronoun
my
Declension
See also
- Appendix:Polish pronouns
Etymology 2
Borrowed from Ancient Greek μῦ (mû), from Phoenician 𐤌 (m /mēm/).
Alternative forms
Trivia
According to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), my is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 88 times in scientific texts, 30 times in news, 138 times in essays, 200 times in fiction, and 419 times in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 875 times, making it the 49th most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.[1]
References
- Ida Kurcz (1990) “my”, in Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej [Frequency dictionary of the Polish language] (in Polish), volume 1, Kraków, Warszawa: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Języka Polskiego, page 259
Further reading
- my in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
- my in Polish dictionaries at PWN
- Maria Renata Mayenowa, Stanisław Rospond, Witold Taszycki, Stefan Hrabec, Władysław Kuraszkiewicz (2010-2023) “my”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish]
- “MY”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century], 2021 June 22
- Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807–1814) “my”, in Słownik języka polskiego
- Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861) “my”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861
- J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1902), “my”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), volume 2, Warsaw, page 1081
Portuguese
Silesian
Etymology
Inherited from Old Polish my.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈmɨ/
- Rhymes: -ɨ
- Syllabification: my
Declension
Further reading
- my in silling.org
Slovak
Etymology
Inherited from Proto-Slavic *my, from Proto-Indo-European *nos.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [mi]
Further reading
- “my”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2024
Upper Sorbian
Etymology
From Proto-Slavic *my, from Proto-Indo-European *wéy.
Declension
First person pronouns | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||||
Nominative | ja | mój | my | |||||
Genitive | mje (after preposition) mnje |
naju | nas | |||||
Dative | mi (after preposition) mni |
namaj | nam | |||||
Accusative | mje (after preposition) mnje |
naju | nas | |||||
Instrumental | mnu | namaj | nami | |||||
Locative | mni | nas | ||||||
Second person pronouns | ||||||||
Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||||
Nominative | ty | wój | wy | |||||
Genitive | će (after preposition) tebje |
waju | was | |||||
Dative | ći (after preposition) tebi |
wamaj | wam | |||||
Accusative | će (after preposition) tebje |
waju | was | |||||
Instrumental | tobu | wamaj | wami | |||||
Locative | tebi | was | ||||||
Third person pronouns | ||||||||
Masculine singular | Feminine singular | Neuter singular | Dual virile | Dual nonvirile | Plural virile | Plural nonvirile | ||
Nominative | wón | wona | wono | wonaj | wonej | woni | wone | |
Genitive | jeho (after preposition) njeho |
jeje (after preposition) njeje |
jeho (after preposition) njeho |
jeju | jich (after preposition) nich |
|||
Dative | jemu (after preposition) njemu |
jej (after preposition) njej |
jemu (after preposition) njemu |
jimaj (after preposition) nimaj |
jim (after preposition) nim | |||
Accusative | jón (after preposition) njón (animate) jeho (animate after preposition) njeho |
ju (after preposition) nju |
jo, je (after preposition) njo, nje |
jeju (after preposition) njeju |
jej (after preposition) njej |
jich (after preposition) nich |
je (after preposition) nje | |
Instrumental | nim | njej | nim | nimaj | nimi | |||
Locative | nich |
Further reading
- “my” in Soblex
West Frisian
Etymology
From Old Frisian mī, from Proto-Germanic *miz.