methinks

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From me (object pronoun) + think (to seem). In Early Modern English, used at least 150 times by William Shakespeare; in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer, me thinketh; and in Old English by Alfred the Great, mē þyncþ. Compare synonymous German mich dünkt.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /mɪˈθɪŋks/
  • (file)

Contraction

methinks (past tense: methought)

  1. (archaic or humorous) It seems to me.
    • ~870-899, Alfred the Great:
      Forthy me thincth betre,
      gif iow swæ thincth,
      thæt we eac sumæ bec
    • ~1350-1400, Geoffrey Chaucer:
      Me thinketh accordant to reason
      To telle you al the condicion
    • 1591, William Shakespeare, King Richard III: III, i
      methinks the truth should live from age to age,
    • 1599, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act III, scene II
      The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
    • 1862 February, George Augustus [Henry] Sala, “The Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous; a Narrative in Plain English, [] Chapter the Fourth. My Grandmother Dies, and I am Left Alone, without So Much as a Name.”, in George Augustus Sala, editor, Temple Bar: A London Magazine for Town and Country Readers, volume IV, London: Office of "Temple Bar," 122 Fleet Street; Ward and Lock, 158 Fleet Street; New York, N.Y.: Willmer and Rogers, OCLC 145336762, page 304:
      And then methought my dream changed, and two Great Giants with heading-axes came striding over the bed, []
    • 2003, Arrested Development, "Bringing Up Buster":
      Dr. Tobias Funke: Methinks a cupid I shall play.

Translations

See also

References

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