they

From Srednji Engleski þei, borrowed in the 1200s from Old Norse þeir,^[1] plural of the demonstrative sá which acted as a plural pronoun. Displaced native Srednji Engleski he from Stari Engleski hīe — which vowel changes had left indistinct from he (“he”) — by the 1400s,^[1]^[2]^[3] being readily incorporated alongside native words beginning with the same sound (the, that, this). Used as a singular pronoun since 1300,^[1] e.g. in the 1325 Cursor Mundi.

The Norse term (whence also Icelandic þeir (“they”), Faroese teir (“they”), Danski de (“they”), Švedski de (“they”), Norwegian Nynorsk dei (“they”)) is from Pra-Germanski *þai (“those”) (from Proto-Indo-European *to- (“that”)), whence also Stari Engleski þā (“those”) (whence obsolete English tho), Škotski thae, thai, thay (“they; those”).

The origin of the determiner they (“the, those”) is unclear. The OED, English Dialect Dictionary and Middle English Dictionary^[4] define it and its Middle English predecessor thei as a demonstrative determiner or adjective meaning "those" or "the". This could be a continuation of the use of the English pronoun they's Old Norse etymon þeir as a demonstrative meaning "those", but the OED and EDD say it is limited to southern, especially southwestern, England, specifically outside the region of Norse contact.

Pronoun

they (third-person, nominative case, usually plural, sometimes singular, objective case them, possessive their, possessive noun theirs, reflexive themselves, or reflexive singular themself)

(the third-person plural nominative) A group of people, animals, or entities previously mentioned. [since the 1200s]
Fred and Jane? They just arrived.

Dogs may bark if they want to be fed.

Plants wilt if they are not watered.

I have a car and a truck, but they are both broken.
- Lua greška in Modul:quote at line 2964: Parameter "trans" is not used by this template..
- 2010, Iguana Invasion!: Exotic Pets Gone Wild in Florida →ISBN 1561644684, page 9:
  There is no reason to be scared of iguanas. They do not attack humans.
(the third-person singular nominative, occasionally proscribed) A single person, previously mentioned, especially if of unknown or non-binary gender, but typically not if previously named and identified as male or female. [since the 1300s]
They requested a seat at Friday's performance but didn't say if they preferred the balcony or the floor.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 17:5:
  Then shalt thou bring forth that man, or that woman (which haue committed that wicked thing) vnto thy gates, euen that man, or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones till they die.
- 1997, J. K. Rowling, chapter 10, in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, (quoted edition: London: Bloomsbury, 2000, →ISBN, page 187):
  Someone knocked into Harry as they hurried past him. It was Hermione.
- 2008, Michelle Obama, quoted in Lisa Rogak, Michelle Obama in Her Own Words, New York, NY: PublicAffairs, 2009. →ISBN 978 1 58648 762 1, page 18:
  One thing a nominee earns is the right to pick the vice president that they think will best reflect their vision of the country, and I am just glad I will have nothing to do with it.
- 2014, Ivan E. Coyote, Rae Spoon, Gender Failure →ISBN 1551525372
  The boycott, led by Elisha Lim, of a Toronto gay and lesbian newspaper after it refused to use their preferred pronoun ["they"], citing grammar considerations, inspired me.
- 2015 April, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (mayor of Baltimore), commenting on the death of Freddie Gray:
  I'm angry that we're here again, that we have had to tell another mother that their child is dead.
- For more examples of usage of this term, see Citati:they.
(indefinite pronoun, vague meaning) People; some people; people in general; someone, excluding the speaker.
They say it’s a good place to live.

They didn’t have computers in the old days.

They should increase our wages.

Ha, you believe the moon is real? That's just what they want you to think.

Koordinatni termini: one, generic you

Usage notes

(singular pronoun): Usage of they as a singular pronoun began in the 1300s and has been common ever since, despite attempts by some grammarians, beginning in 1795,^[5] to condemn it as a violation of traditional (Latinate) agreement rules. Some other grammarians have countered that criticism since at least 1896.^[6] Fowler's Modern English Usage (third edition) notes that it "is being left unaltered by copy editors" and is "not widely felt to lie in a prohibited zone." Some authors compare use of singular they to widespread use of singular you instead of thou.^[7]^[8] See Wikipedia's article on singular they for more; see also the usage notes about themself. (Compare he.)
(singular pronoun): Even when used as a singular pronoun, verb conjugations for singular they are the same as for plural they.
(singular pronoun): Infrequently, they is used of an individual person of known, binary gender. See citations.
(singular pronoun): Infrequently, they is used of an individual animal which would more commonly be referred to as it. See citations.
(indefinite pronoun): One is also an indefinite pronoun, but the two words do not mean the same thing and are rarely interchangeable. "They" refers to people in general (hence the expressions they say, so they say, you know what they say), whereas "one" refers to one person (often such that what is true for that person is true for everyone). You may also be used to refer to people in general; such use of that pronoun is called the generic you.
They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

One may say, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

You may say, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

Alternative forms

(rare, dialect or eye dialect:) dey (th-stopping dialects), thay, theye (archaic), thaay (Gloucestershire, Berkshire, possibly archaic)

Translations

third-person plural pronoun

Abkhaz: dara (dārā)
Adyghe: ahэr (axɛr)
Afar: usun
Afrikaans: hulle (af) pl
Akan: wɔn (animate), ɛno (inanimate)
Albanian: ata (sq) m pl, ato (sq) f pl
Alviri-Vidari: اووا (uvā)
Amharic: እነሱ (ʾənäsu)
Arabic: (dual) هُمَا (humā), هُم (ar) pl (hum), هُنَّ (ar) f pl (hunna), (non-human) هِيَ (ar) (hiya)
Egyptian Arabic: هما (humma), هم m pl (humm)

Levantine Arabic: هن pl (hinne), هم pl (humme)

Gulf Arabic: اهم (uhum, uhmə)

Tunisian Arabic: هُمَا m pl or f pl (humā)
Aragonese: els, ellos (masculine), ellas (feminine)
Armenian: նրանք (hy) (nrankʿ)
Old Armenian: նոքա (nokʿa)
Aromanian: nãsh m pl, nãse f pl, nãsi f pl, elj m pl, eali f pl, eli f pl
Assamese: সিহঁত (xihõt) (distal), ইহঁত (ihõt) (proximal), তেওঁলোক (teü̃lük) (distal, polite), এওঁলোক (eü̃lük) (proximal, polite)
Asturian: ellos (ast) m pl, elles (ast) f pl
Aymara: jupanaka
Azerbaijani: onlar (az)
Bambara: u
Bashkir: ular (ular)
Basque: haiek
Belarusian: яnы́ (be) (janý)
Bengali: তারা (tara)
Breton: i (br), int (br)
Bulgarian: te (bg) (te)
Burmese: သူတို့ (sutui.), သူများ (my) (su-mya:)
Buryat: tэdэ (tede)
Catalan: ells (ca) m pl, elles (ca) f pl
Chechen: uьš (üš), uьzuš (üzuš)
Chichewa: iwo
Chinese:
Cantonese: (vernacular) 佢哋 (keoi⁵ dei⁶), (literary) 他們／他们, 他们 (taa¹ mun⁴)

Dungan: tamu (tamu), ana (ana)

Gan: 佢們／佢们, 佢们 (qie² miin), 渠們／渠们, 渠们 (qie² miin)

Jin: 他們／他们, 他们 (ta¹ me)

Mandarin: 他們／他们 (zh), 他们 (zh) (tāmen), (females only) 她們／她们 (zh), 她们 (zh) (tāmen), (non-human) 它們／它们 (zh), 它们 (zh) (tāmen)

Min Dong: 伊各儂／伊各侬, 伊各侬 (ĭ-gáuk-nè̤ng)

Min Nan: 𪜶 (zh-min-nan) (in)
Teochew: 𪜶 (zh-min-nan) (ing1), 伊儂／伊侬 (i1 nang5)

Wu: 伊拉 (hhi la, hhi laq) (Shanghai)

Xiang: 他們／他们, 他们 (ta¹ men)
Chuvash: vӗsem (vĕsem)
Cornish: i, jei, anjei
Czech: oni (cs), ony (cs)
Dalmatian: jali m pl, jale f pl
Danish: de (da)
Dhivehi: އެ މީހުން (e mīhun)
Dutch: zij (nl), ze (nl)
Dyirbal: not used in Dyirbal (Dyirbal has no third-person pronoun)
Dzongkha: ཁོང (khong)
Egyptian: (suffix pronoun)

(.sn), (Late Egyptian suffix pronoun)

(.w), (enclitic pronoun)

(sn), (stressed pronoun)

(ntsn)
Erzya: sыnь (synʹ)
Esperanto: ili (eo), tiuj (eo)
Estonian: nemad (et) pl, nad (et) pl
Ewe: wo
Faroese: teir (fo) m tær (fo) f, tey (fo) n
Fijian: (dual) ^{(molim overavanje)} rau (fj), (paucal) ^{(molim overavanje)} iratou, (pl) ^{(molim overavanje)} ira
Finnish: (of people) he (fi), (of inanimate things and animals) ne (fi), (informally of people) ne (fi), hyö (fi) (dialectal)
French: ils (fr) m, elles (fr) f, (tonic) eux (fr) m pl
Old French: (male only or mixed) il, (female only) eles

Louisiana French: eux (fr), eusse (fr), eux-autres (fr)
Friulian: lôr
Galician: eles (gl) m, elas f
Georgian: ისინი (isini)
German: sie (de)
Greek: αυτοί (el) m (aftoí), αυτές (el) f (aftés), αυτά (el) n (aftá)
Ancient Greek: οὗτοι m (hoûtoi), αὗται f (haûtai) ταῦτα (taûta); σφεῖς (spheîs)
Guaraní: ha'ekuéra
Gujarati: એવણ (evaṇ)
Hausa: (independent form) súu
Hawaiian: lāua du, lākou pl
Hebrew: הֵם (he) m (hem), הֵן (he) f (hen)
Higaonon: sidan
Hindi: वे (hi) (ve), ये (hi) (ye)
Hopi: puma
Hungarian: ők (hu)
Icelandic: þeir (is) m pl, þær (is) m or f, þau (is) n pl
Ido: li (io), ili (io) m, eli (io) f, (things) oli (io)
Indonesian: mereka (id)
Ingush: už (už)
Interlingua: illes (ia) m, illas (ia) f, illos (ia) n
Irish: siad (conjunctive), iad (disjunctive), siadsan, iadsan (emphatic)
Old Irish: é
Istriot: luri
Italian: essi (it), loro (it)
Japanese: 彼ら (ja) (かれら, karera), あいつら (aitsura), (non-human) それら (ja) (sorera), (polite) あの人達 (あのひとたち, anohito-tachi), (more polite) あの方々 (あのかたがた, anokata-gata), 彼女ら (ja) (かのじょら, kanojora) (females only)
Kabuverdianu: es
Kaingang: ag
Kalmyk: tedn (tedn)
Kannada: ಇವರು m or f (ivaru), ಇವುಗಳು n (ivugaḷu), ಇವು (kn) n (ivu), ಅವರು (kn) m or f (avaru), ಅವುಗಳು n (avugaḷu), ಅವು (kn) n (avu)
Karakalpak: olar
(deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
Karakhanid: اُلارْ (olar)
Kashubian: òni
Kazakh: olar (kk) (olar)
Khakas: olar (olar)
Khmer: គាត់ (km) (koat), ពួកគេ (puək kee), គេ (km) (kei), ពួកគាត់ (puəkkŏət)
Korean: 그들 (geudeul), 그녀들 (geunyeodeul) (females only)
Kyrgyz: alar (ky) (alar)
Lakota: epi, iyepi
Laboya: rattu
Lao: ພວກເຂົາ (phūak khao)
Latgalian: jī m, juos f, šī m, šuos f
Latin: ii (la) n ei (la) m, eae (la) f, ea (la) n, hi (la) m, hae (la) f, haec (la) n, illi m, illae, illae f, illa n
Latvian: viņi (lv) m, viņas (lv) f
Lithuanian: jie (lt) m pl, jos (lt) f pl
Livonian: nämād, ne
Louisiana Creole French: yé
Lü: molim dodajte ovaj prevod ako možete
Macedonian: tíe (tíe)
Malay: mereka (ms)
Maltese: huma (mt)
Manchu: ᠴᡝ
Manx: ad (gv), adsyn (emphatic)
Maori: rāua du, rātou pl
Mazanderani: وشون (vešun)
Mon: ညး တံ (ɲɛ̀h tɔʔ), ဍေံ တံ (ɗɛ̀h tɔʔ)
Mongolian: tэd nar (ted nar)
Mòcheno: sei
Neapolitan: loro
Ngarrindjeri: kar
North Frisian: (Heilgolandic) djo, (Mooring) ja
Northern Sami: ^{(molim overavanje)} soai dual, ^{(molim overavanje)} sii pl
Norwegian: de (no)
Nynorsk: dei (nn)
Occitan: eles (oc), elas
Ojibwe: wiinawaa
Old Church Slavonic:
Cyrillic: oni (oni)
Old East Slavic: oni (oni), onѣ (oně) (females or non-animate)
Old English: hīe pl
Old Norse: þeir, þær, þau
Ottoman Turkish: اولار (olar)
Pashto: هغوی (hoǧúy) (absent or distant), دوی (ps) (dūy) (visible or present)
Persian: ایشان (fa) (išân), آنها (fa) (ânhâ), آنان (fa) (ânân)
Pipil: yejemet, yehemet
Pitjantjatjara: (here) ngaa, (there) pala, (over there) nyara, (not visible) palunya
Polish: oni (pl) m (animate), one (pl) m or f or n (nonanimate)
Portuguese: eles (pt) m, elas (pt) f
Quechua: paykuna (qu)
Rapa Nui: raua
Romani: on
Kalo Finnish Romani: joon

Vlax Romani: von
Romanian: ei (ro) m, ele (ro) f, dumnealor m pl or f pl (formal, polite)
Romansch: els m, ellas f
Russian: oní (ru) (oní)
Rusyn: vní (vný)
Scots: thay
Scottish Gaelic: (nonemphatic) iad, (emphatic) iadsan
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: oni m pl, one f pl, ona n pl

Roman: oni m pl, one (sh) f pl, ona (sh) n pl
Shan: molim dodajte ovaj prevod ako možete
Shor: ыlar (ılar)
Sicilian: iddi (scn), idde f
Sinhalese: ඔවුහු (ovuhu), ඔව්හු (ovhu), ඔවුන් (ovun), එයාලා (eyālā) (informal)
Slovak: oni m pl, ony f pl or n pl
Slovene: ôni (sl) m, ône (sl) f, ôna (sl) n
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: wóni
Southern Altai: olor (olor)
Spanish: ellos (es) m, ellas (es) f
Sranan Tongo: they
Swahili: wao
Swedish: de (sv), dom (sv)
Sylheti: ꠔꠣꠁꠘ (tain), ꠔꠣꠞꠣ (tara)
Tagalog: (ng form) nila, (sa form) kanila, (unmarked form) sila (tl)
Tajik: эšon (tg) (ešon), onҳo (tg) (onho)
Tamil: அவர் (ta) (avar), இவர் (ta) (ivar)
Taos: ą́wąną
Tatar: alar (alar)
Telugu: వారు (te) (vāru), వాళ్ళు (vāḷḷu)
Tetum: sira
Thai: เขา (th) (kǎo), พวกเขา
Tibetan: ཁོང་ཚོ (khong tsho) (ordinary), ཁོ་རང་ཚོ (kho rang tsho) (familiar male), མོ་རང་ཚོ (mo rang tsho) (familiar female)
Tigrinya: ንሳቶም m (nəsatom), ንሳተን f (nəsatän)
Tlingit: hás
Tok Pisin: ol (tpi)
Turkish: onlar (tr)
Turkmen: olar
Ukrainian: voní (uk) (voný)
Urdu: وہ (ve, vah), یہ (ye, yah)
Uyghur: ئۇلار (ular)
Uzbek: ular (uz)
Venetian: lori (vec) m pl, lore (vec) f pl, łore, łori, łuri
Veps: hö
Vietnamese: họ (vi)
Volapük: (masculine) oms (vo), (feminine) ofs (vo), (neuter or mixed gender) ons (vo)
Welsh: (literary) hwy, (literary) hwynt, (spoken) nhw
West Frisian: hja (fy), sy (fy), se
Wolof: ñoom (wo)
Yiddish: זיי (zey)
Yoruba: (weak pronoun) wọ́n, (strong pronoun) àwọn
Zealandic: 'ulder, (unemphatic) ze
Zhuang: dohde, vajde, hongminz, mbongmiz, gyoengqde
Zulu: bona class 2 (usually for people), yona class 4, wona class 6, zona class 8, zona class 10
ǃKung: si (people), hi (animals, things)
ǃXóõ: ùh, (emphatic) ùhʻù

third-person singular, of unknown, irrelevant, or non-binary gender

Azerbaijani: o (az)
Bashkir: ul (ul)
Bengali: সে (bn) (śe)
Burmese: သူ (my) (su)
Chichewa: iye
Chinese:
Cantonese: 佢 (yue) (keoi⁵)

Dungan: ta (ta)

Mandarin: TA (zh) (tā)

Min Nan: 伊 (zh-min-nan) (i)

Wu: 伊 (hhi)
Chuvash: vӑl (văl)
Cree: wiya (wiya)
Dyirbal: not used in Dyirbal (Dyirbal has no third-person pronoun)
Dzongkha: ཕྱོ (phyo), ནཱ (nā)
Esperanto: li (eo), ri (eo) (neologism), ĝi (eo) (nonstandard), ŝli (eo) (neologism)
Estonian: tema (et) sg, ta (et) sg, see (et) sg
Fijian: koya
Finnish: hän (fi) (of people), se (fi) (of things or informally of people)
French: iel (fr) n (neologism), on (fr)
Georgian: ის (ka) (is)
German: not used in Nemački
Guaraní: ahẽ
Hawaiian: ia
Hindi: वह (hi) (vah), यह (hi) (yah)
Hungarian: ő (hu)
Icelandic: hán (is)
Ido: lu (io)
Indonesian: dia (id), ia (id)
Interlingua: uno, on
Japanese: あの人 (あのひと, anohito), 氏 (ja) (し, shi)
Kabuverdianu: es
Karelian: häi
Kazakh: ol (kk) (ol)
Ket: bu (bu)
Korean: 그 (ko) (geu) (literary, poetic, or in translated works only)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: ew (ku)
Kyrgyz: al (ky) (al)
(deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
Lakota: ish, iye
Lao: ເຂົາ (lo) (khao)
Malay: dia (ms), ia
Maltese: huma (mt)
Maori: ia
Mongolian: tэr (mn) (ter)
Norwegian: hen (no)
Ojibwe: wiin
Pashto: هغه (ps) (hağë)
Persian: او (fa) (u), وی (fa) (vay), وی (fa) (vey)
Pipil: yaha, yaja
Portuguese: elu (pt) n (neologism), se (pt) (reflexive)
Quechua: pay (qu)
Romanian: not used in Rumunski
Russian: not used in Ruski
Sami:
Inari: sun

Lule: sån

Northern: son

Skolt: son

Southern: dïhte
Spanish: elle (es) n (neologism), se (es) (reflexive)
Swahili: yeye
Swedish: hen (sv)
Tagalog: (ng form) niya, (sa form) kaniya, (unmarked form) siya
Tatar: ul (tt) (ul)
Thai: เขา (th) (kǎo)
Tibetan: ཁོང (khong)
Tupinambá: a'e
Turkish: o (tr)
Turkmen: ol
Ukrainian: voní (uk) (voný)
Urdu: وہ (voh), یہ (ye)
Uyghur: ئۇ (ug) (u)
Uzbek: u (uz)
Vietnamese: họ (vi), nó (vi)
Volapük: on (vo)
Yoruba: ó, á
ǃKung: ha

one, people, some people

Dutch: ze (nl)
Ewe: wo
Finnish: passive tense or null subject used
French: on (fr)
Georgian: ერთი (ka) (erti), ვინმე (vinme), შენ (ka) (šen)
German: man (de)
Hungarian: az ember, -nak/-nek, -ják/-ik
(deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
Italian: si (it)
Khmer: ពួកគេ (puəkkei)
Persian: ایشان (fa) (išân)
Portuguese: se (pt)
Spanish: se (es), uno (es) m, una (es) f
Swedish: de (sv), dom (sv), man (sv)
Zealandic: 'ulder, (unemphatic) ze

Determiner

they

(now Southern England dialect or nonstandard) The, those. [from 14th c.]
- 1878, Louis John Jennings, Field Paths and Green Lanes, quoting an old East Sussex man:
  "They rooks as you see [...] only coom a few year agoo."
- 1883 Judy, or the London serio-comic journal, volume 33 (Harvard University) [1]:
  Darn'd if they Cockney Chaps can zee there worn't nort but lie in him.
- 1895, Under the Chilterns: A Story of English Village Life:
  page 21: "But you spile [spoil] they gals - they won't be for no good, they won't."
  
  page 30: "'Twas all about they rewks [rooks]," he sobbed.
  
  page 54: "mucking the place up with they weeds"
- 1901, Gwendoline Keats (of Devon), Tales of Dunstáble Weir, page 55:
  "Bodies and souls," she cried, "if I didn't reckon to have hidden they boots safe from un in the stick-rick." "Off wi' they tight-wasted shoes o' yours, Martha."
(US dialects, including African-American Vernacular) Their. [from 19th c.]
- 1974, Arthur Hippler, Hunter's Point: a black ghetto in America, page 88:
  MARY ELLEN is a different case from the others. She has five children and, she claims: "I don't know who they father is. I ain't never kept track. They is always another one. You know, I can catch me a guy[.]"
- 2015, “Energy”, in If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, performed by Drake:
  I got bitches askin' me about the code for the Wi-Fi / So they can talk about they timeline / And show me pictures of they friends
- 2016, Alan Moore, Jerusalem, Liveright 2016, p. 175:
  He guessed one of the well-off people living in these houses must have took a shine to Cody and decided how he'd look good stuck up on they roof.

Alternative forms

(rare, dialect or eye dialect:) the; thay, thaay (Gloucestershire, Berkshire, possibly archaic)

Etymology 2

From earlier the'e, from there.

Pronoun

they

(US dialectal) There (especially as an expletive subject of be). [from 19th c.]
- 1889, James Whitcomb Riley, Pipes o' Pan:
  They’s music in the twitter of the bluebird and the jay.
- 1974, Arthur Hippler, Hunter's Point: a black ghetto in America, page 88:
  MARY ELLEN is a different case from the others. She has five children and, she claims: "I don't know who they father is. I ain't never kept track. They is always another one. You know, I can catch me a guy[.]"
- 2000, Janice Giles, Hill Man, page 58:
  They ain’t nothin’ wrong with that.
- 2008, Christian Carvajal, Lightfall, page 82:
  But they ain’t nothin’ in there you didn’t already have.
- 2010, Alessandro Portelli, They Say in Harlan County: An Oral History, page 207:
  Well, they’s a lot of ‘em didn’t survive, if you believe me.

References

↑ ^1,0 ^1,1 ^1,2 “they” in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN 978-0-544-45445-3.
↑ “they” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2024.
↑ Otto Jespersen, Growth and Structure of the English Language
↑ “thei” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2016-01-28.
↑ Anne Bodine, Androcentrism in Prescriptive Grammar: Singular `they', Sex-indefinite `he', and `he or she', in Language in Society, v. 4 (1975), pages 129-146
↑ William Malone Baskervill and James Witt Sewell's An English Grammar (1896) says singular they is "frequently found when the antecedent includes or implies both genders. The masculine does not really represent a feminine antecedent"; it furthermore recommends changing it to he or she "unless both genders are implied". (Italics in original.)
↑ Michael Reed, Tech Book 1 →ISBN 0956081312, Note about pronoun usage, page 9: "Singular they can introduce some ambiguity because the antecedent of the pronoun “they” could theoretically be a male or female [... but] English has survived the loss of pronouns such as thou (singular you) despite the consequent potential for ambiguity."
↑ John McWhorter, Word on the Street: Debunking the Myth of a Pure Standard (2009, →ISBN 0786731478: "In this light, our modern grammarians' discomfort with singular they is nothing but this comical intermediate stage in an inevitable change, as misguided and futile as the old grumbles about singular you."

Anagrams

hyte, thye, ythe ^{(alphagram ehty)}