Word definition: I

Etimology


From Middle English I (also ik, ich), from Old English ih (also ic, iċċ (“I”)), from Proto-West Germanic *ik, from Proto-Germanic *ik, *ek (“I”), from Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂ (“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”), 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).

pronoun


I (first person singular subject personal pronoun, objective me, possessive my, possessive pronoun mine, reflexive myself)

The speaker or writer, referred to as the grammatical subject, of a sentence.

(nonstandard) The speaker or writer, referred to as the grammatical object, of a sentence.

Examples


[…] 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.

Here I am, sir.

Audio

I know I have a pen, though… Audio

Audio

Mom drove my sister and I to school.

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.

Old pirates, yes, they rob ISold I to the merchant shipsMinutes after they took IFrom the bottomless pit.

Related words


synonyms

ich, ch

my ass, m'ass (vulgar slang)

muggins, yours truly

Ah (phonetic spelling, African-American Vernacular English)

noun


I (countable and uncountable, plural I's)

(metaphysics) The ego.

Examples


Synonym: me

They are called men, becauſe each of them poſſeſſeth the whole man, though not wholly. There are by their means two I’s in every believer, Rom. vii. 15. For that which I do, I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. There is not one part of the man that is in Chriſt, but grace has a part of it, and corruption has a part of it: as in the twilight there is light over all, and darkneſs over all too, the darkneſs being mixed in every part with the light. So my renewed part is I, a man having an underſtanding enlightened, a will renewed, affections ſpiritualized, uſing my body conform: but my unrenewed part is I too, having an underſtanding darkened, a will rebellious, affections corrupted, and uſing my body accordingly.

In other words, he said: “I have two natures. I have a flesh nature, an outside nature, and that keeps sinning; and then I have another nature—an inside, a spiritual nature—and that does not like sinning; and with my heart-power, my conscience-power, my love-power, with the power of the divine element that is in me, I look and see what this body outside, which clothes me, is trying to do. And here are two I’s that are fighting. The inside I is arrayed against the outside I; and the outside has the advantage.”

Am I a double personality? Are there two “I’s” in my anatomy—one a conscious “I,” giving attention to what I am doing, and another unconscious “I,” giving attention to something entirely different?

B. : Have you come to examine me? You must say who you are. / D.: However much I may try, I do not seem to catch the ‘I’. It is not even clearly discernible. / B.: Who is it that says that the ‘I’ is not discernible? Are there two ‘I’s in you, that one is not discernible to the other?

Who is it that says that ‘I’ is not perceptible? Is there an ignorant ‘I’ and an elusive ‘I’? Are there two ‘I’s in the same person? It is the mind that says that ‘I’ is not perceptible. Where is that mind from? Know the mind. You will find it a myth. / We all feel that there is only one I; not two, one ignorant of the other.

Etimology


Old French i, from Latin ī, from Etruscan I (i).

letter


I (upper case, lower case i, plural Is or I's)

The ninth letter of the English alphabet, called i and written in the Latin script.

Etimology


Abbreviation.

noun


I (countable and uncountable, plural Is)

(US, roadway) Interstate.

(grammar) Abbreviation of instrumental case.

(computing) Abbreviation of instruction.

interjection


I

Obsolete spelling of aye.

Data provided by Wiktionary