me

From Middle English me, from Old English mē (“me”, originally dative, but later also accusative), from Proto-Germanic *miz (“me”), from Proto-Indo-European *(e)me-, *(e)me-n- (“me”). Cognate with Scots me (“me”), North Frisian me (“me”), Saterland Frisian mie (“me”), Dutch me, mij (“me”), Low German mi (“me”), German mir (“me”, dative), Icelandic mér (“me”, dative), Latin mē (“me”), Ancient Greek μέ (mé), ἐμέ (emé, “me”), Sanskrit मा (mā, “me”).

• (UK) enPR: mē, IPA^(key): /miː/
• (US) enPR: mē, IPA^(key): /mi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iː
• Homophone: mee

me (first-person singular pronoun, referring to the speaker)

1. As the direct object of a verb.

   Can you hear me?

2. (obsolete) Myself; as a reflexive direct object of a verb.
   • 1819, John Keats, La Belle Dame sans Merci,

     And I awoke, and found me here.

3. As the object of a preposition.

   Come with me.

4. As the indirect object of a verb.

   He gave me this.

5. (US, colloquial) Myself; as a reflexive indirect object of a verb; the ethical dative.
   • 1993 April, Harper’s Magazine,

     When I get to college, I’m gonna get me a white Nissan Sentra.

6. (colloquial) As the complement of the copula (“be” or “is”).

   It wasn't me.

   • 2017, Theresa May, Twitter, The Irish Times, The Spectator,

     It's either me or Jeremy Corbyn.

7. (Australia, Britain, New Zealand, colloquial) My; preceding a noun, marking ownership.
   • a. 1918, Wilfred Owen, The Letter, in 1994, Douglas Kerr (editor), The Works of Wilfred Owen, page 54,

     There don′t seem much to say just now. / (Yer what? Then don′t, yer ruddy cow! / And give us back me cigarette!)

8. (colloquial, with "and") As the subject of a verb.

   Me and my friends played a game.

9. (nonstandard, not with "and") As the subject of a verb.
   • 1844, Charles Wilkes, Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition, Vol. II,

     One of them, whose sobriquet was Big-headed Blackboy, was stretched out before the fire, and no answer could be obtained from him, but a drawling repetition, in grunts of displeasure, of “Bel (not) me want to go.”

   • 2005, Michael Chapman & Matthew Chapman, Teen Girl Squad Issue 10 (cartoon), part of Homestar Runner

     Strong Bad: Me gotta see that again.

Me is traditionally described as the accusative pronoun, meaning it should be used as the object of verbs and prepositions, while the nominative pronoun I should be used as the subject of verbs. However, “accusative” pronouns are widely used as the subject of verbs in colloquial speech if they are accompanied by and, for example, "me and her are friends". This usage is traditionally considered incorrect, and "she and I are friends" would be the preferred construction.

Using me as the lone subject (without and) of a verb (e.g. "me want", "me like") is a feature of various types of both pidgin English and that of infant English-learners, and is sometimes used by speakers of standard English for jocular effect (e.g. "me likee", "me wantee").

Although in the spoken version of some dialects 'me' is commonly used as a possessive, in writing, speakers of these dialects usually write my.

Some prescriptivists object to the use of me following the verb to be, as in “It wasn’t me”. The phrase “It was not I” is considered to be correct, though this may be seen as extreme and used for jocular effect.

• (subject of a verb): I; my ass (vulgar or slang)
• (reflexive object): myself
• (complement of the copula): I
• (indirect object): us (Australia, UK)
• (marking ownership): my; mine (archaic)

Variant forms.

me

1. (Britain regional, Ireland) Alternative form of my
   • 1995, A Close Shave:

     Get off me cheese! Get off! Get off!

   • 2016, Alan Moore, Jerusalem, Liveright 2016, p. 99:

     “What have I ever done to prove me worth, or where I could at least say as I'd made a difference?”

• A Dictionary of North East Dialect, Bill Griffiths, 2005, Northumbria University Press, →ISBN
• Newcastle 1970s, Scott Dobson and Dick Irwin,

• 'em, EM, Em, em, em-

• IPA^(key): [mɛ]

From Proto-Albanian *me(t). Cognate to Ancient Greek μετά (metá, “after, beyond; in the middle, between”), Gothic miþ (miþ, “with”), Old Norse með.

me (+accusative)

1. with (accompanied by)

   Shkoj me tim vëlla.

   I'm going with my brother.

2. with (possessing)

   E sheh djalin me sytë e kaltër?

   Do you see the guy with blue eyes?

3. with (by means of)

   Preferoj të shkruaj me penë.

   I prefer to write with a pen.

From Proto-Indo-European *manu, compare Ancient Greek (Hom.) μανός (manós, “thin”), Old Armenian մանր (manr, “small”). Alternatively it could represent a continuation of Proto-Indo-European *mṇi̯ō, to be compared with Latin minuō (“lessen”), Slavic *mьnь 'smaller' and the like.

me m (feminine mee)

1. insufficient, scanty, not full

• mej
• mehem
• metë

From Portuguese mãe (“mother”), from Old Portuguese mãy, madre (“mother”), from Latin mātrem, accusative singular of māter (“mother, matron”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr (“mother”).

me

1. mother

• 2005, John H. McWhorter, Defining Creole

• m' (before a vowel)

From Latin mē, accusative singular of ego. As an indirect pronoun, possibly in part from Latin mihi (dative singular of ego), through a Vulgar Latin *mi.

me

1. me (first-person plural direct pronoun)
2. me (first-person plural indirect pronoun)

me

1. and

From Latin mē (accusative of ego), from Proto-Indo-European *(e)me-.

me (enclitic, contracted 'm, proclitic em, contracted proclitic m')

1. me (direct or indirect object)

• em
• mi
• jo

me

1. and

me

1. from

me

1. (Sette Comuni) the; definite article for two declensions:
   1. dative singular masculine
   2. dative singular neuter

• “me” in Martalar, Umberto Martello; Bellotto, Alfonso (1974) Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo

• (Standard Cornish, Standard Written Form) my

me

1. (Standard Cornish) I, me

• IPA^(key): /mə/

• Audio

  (file)

me

1. me; First-person singular, objective, mute form of mij

Short form of meie, from Proto-Finnic *mek.

me (genitive me, partitive meid)

1. we

From Proto-Finnic *mek, from Proto-Uralic *me.

• IPA^(key): /ˈme/, [ˈme̞]
• Hyphenation: me
• Rhymes: -e

me (stem mei-)

1. we

• Although usually omitted in written language (the verb shows both the person and the number), the pronoun is in spoken language practically always used. (compare the usage of minä (“I”))

• Irregular. The comitative and instructive forms don't exist; the abessive is hardly used.
• In addition to the standard set of cases, me and the other personal pronouns have a specific accusative form, meidät.

• met (dialectal)
• myö (dialectal)

• me-henki

• minä
• sinä
• hän
• te
• he

• em.

From Middle French me, from Old French me, from Latin mē (accusative of ego), from Proto-Indo-European *(e)me-, *(e)me-n- (“me”). Northern dialects have preserved a form mi for the indirect object (also found in Old French in the Oaths of Strasbourg), from Latin mihi, dative singular of ego, through a Vulgar Latin *mi, whereas in standard French, it has merged into me.

• IPA^(key): /mə/

• audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ə

me (personal, objective case)

1. (direct object) me
2. (indirect object) to me

• “me” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

me

1. inflection of eu:
   1. accusative
   2. dative
   3. reflexive

me

1. male
2. husband

From French mai (“May”)

me

1. May

me

1. with

• IPA^(key): /mɛː/
• Rhymes: -ɛː

me

1. baa (representing the bleating sound sheep make)

From English me, French me, Italian me, Spanish me, from Proto-Indo-European *(e)me-, *(e)me-n- (“me”).

• IPA^(key): /me/, /mɛ/

me (first-person singular)

1. I, me

   Me es tre felica.

   I am very happy.

   Ka vu parolas a me?

   Are you talking to me?

• mea (“my, mine”)

me (plural me-i)

1. The name of the Latin script letter M/m.

• (Latin script letter names) litero; a, be, ce, che, de, e, fe, ge, he, i, je, ke, le, me, ne, o, pe, que, re, se, she, te, u, ve, we, xe, ye, ze ^{(Category: io:Latin letter names)}

From Latin mē, accusative singular of ego.

me

1. objective of i; me; to me
   • 1877, Antonio Ive, Canti popolari istriani: raccolti a Rovigno, volume 5, Ermanno Loescher, page 40:

     Ti me pari oûna dea infra li dai,

     You seem to me a goddess among the gods,

From Latin mē.

• IPA^(key): /me/
• Rhymes: -e

me (personal, objective case)

1. (disjunctive, emphatic) me

me

1. Alternative form of mi

me

1. Rōmaji transcription of め (hiragana)
2. Rōmaji transcription of メ (katakana)

me

1. louse

• Johannes A. Z'Graggen, The Madang-Adelbert Range Sub-Phylum (1975) (as mɛ)
• Bemal Organized Phonology Data (as me)

me

1. we (the speaker/writer and at least one other person)

From Proto-Indo-European *(e)me-, *(e)me-n- (“me”). Cognate with Ancient Greek με (me), εμέ (emé, “me”), Sanskrit मा (mā, “me”), Old English me, Old Frisian mi, Old Saxon mī, Dutch mij, Old High German mih (German mich), Old Norse mik, Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌺 (mik). The Indo-European root is also the source of Latin me, Greek με (me), Old Irish mé (Irish mí, Welsh mi), Proto-Slavic *mene (Old Church Slavonic мене (mene), Russian меня́ (menjá)), Lithuanian mi, Albanian mua.

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /meː/

• Audio (Classical)

  (file)

mē (personal pronoun)

1. me, myself; accusative singular of ego
2. by me, with me, from me; ablative singular of ego

• mēcum, mēmet

• me in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• me in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers

me (Zhuyin ˙ㄇㄜ)

1. Pinyin transcription of 么
2. Pinyin transcription of 嚜
3. Pinyin transcription of 末
4. Pinyin transcription of 麼, 麽
5. Pinyin transcription of 嚒

me

1. Nonstandard spelling of mē.

• English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

From French mai

me

1. May

me

1. (drinkable) water
2. any liquid
3. (non-tidal) stream, river

• F. Madden, Mengen Dictionary (2006)
• Dan Rath, Mengen Dialect Survey (1991) (me, mee)

Old English mē, from Proto-Indo-European. More at English me.

• IPA^(key): /meː/
• Rhymes: -eː

me (nominative I)

1. me (first-person singular accusative pronoun)
2. (reflexive) myself

• English: me
• Scots: me

• “me (pron.2)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 6 May 2018.

me (nominative I)

1. Alternative form of mi.

• “min, (pron.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 6 May 2018.

From man, men, by way of phonemic reduction in unstressed positions.

me

1. Typically singular, indefinite pronoun: one, you (indefinite).

• man
• ei

• “me (pron.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 12 June 2018.

• m' (before a vowel)

From Old French me.

me

1. me, first-person singular object pronoun
2. to me, first-person singular indirect object pronoun

• (first-person singular object and indirect object pronoun): moy (with verbs in the imperative)

• French: me

me

1. son
2. child

me

1. and

From Latin mē.

mme, m', mm'

• IPA^(key): /me/
• Rhymes: -e

me

1. me (accusative or dative or reflexive or prepositional)

• mé (continental Normandy, Jersey)
• maïr (Guernsey)

me f (plural mes)

1. (Sark) sea

me

1. First-person singular, objective: me

• vi

Probably from Old Norse mit (“we two, the both of us”).

• IPA^(key): /meː/ (example of pronunciation)
• Homophone: med

me

1. we

   Kva skal me gjera?

   What shall we do?

• “me” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

me

1. I; me
2. (reflexive) myself

• men

From Proto-Germanic *miz, dative of *ek, from Proto-Indo-European *me. Cognate with Old Frisian mi, Old Saxon mī, Dutch mij, Old High German mih (German mich), Old Norse mik, Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌺 (mik). The Indo-European root is also the source of Latin me, Greek με (me), Old Irish mé (Irish mí, Welsh mi), Proto-Slavic *mene (Old Church Slavonic мене (mene), Russian меня́ (menjá)), Lithuanian mi, Albanian mua.

• IPA^(key): /meː/

mē (personal pronoun)

1. me: accusative or dative singular form of iċ

• Middle English: me
  • English: me
  • Scots: me

From Latin mē, accusative of ego. As an indirect object pronoun, possibly in part from Latin mihi, dative singular of ego, through a Vulgar Latin *mi (compare the form mi in particular, found in early Old French in the Oaths of Strasbourg).

me

1. myself (first-person singular reflexive pronoun)
2. me (first-person singular direct object pronoun)
3. to me (first-person singular indirect object pronoun)

• moi/mei

• Middle French: me
  • French: me

me

1. enclitic genitive and dative singular of ahaṃ
2. enclitic instrumental and ablative singular of ahaṃ

• IPA^(key): /mɛ/

me

1. Alternative form of moje.

From Old Portuguese me, from Latin mē (accusative of ego), from Proto-Indo-European *(e)me-. As an objective indirect pronoun, possibly in part from Latin mihi (dative of ego), through a Vulgar Latin *mi.

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /mi/, /me/
• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /mɨ/
• Hyphenation: me
• Rhymes: -i