What is "thee"

thou \thou\ ([th]ou), pron. [Sing.: nom. Thou; poss. Thy ([th][imac]) or Thine ([th][imac]n); obj. Thee ([th][=e]). Pl.: nom. You (y[=oo]); poss. Your (y[=oo]r) or Yours (y[=oo]rz); obj. You.] [OE. thou, [thorn]u, AS. [eth][=u], [eth]u; akin to OS. & OFries. thu, G., Dan. & Sw. du, Icel. [thorn][=u], Goth. [thorn]u, Russ. tui, Ir. & Gael. tu, W. ti, L. tu, Gr. sy`, Dor. ty`, Skr. tvam. [root]185. Cf. Thee, Thine, Te Deum.] The second personal pronoun, in the singular number, denoting the person addressed; thyself; the pronoun which is used in addressing persons in the solemn or poetical style.

Art thou he that should come?
--Matt. xi. 3.

Note: ``In Old English, generally, thou is the language of a lord to a servant, of an equal to an equal, and expresses also companionship, love, permission, defiance, scorn, threatening: whilst ye is the language of a servant to a lord, and of compliment, and further expresses honor, submission, or entreaty.''
--Skeat.

Note: Thou is now sometimes used by the Friends, or Quakers, in familiar discourse, though most of them corruptly say thee instead of thou.

Thee \Thee\ (th[=e]), v. i. [AS. [thorn]e['o]n; akin to OS. th[=i]han, D. gedijen, G. gedeihen, OHG. gidihan, Goth. [thorn]eihan, Lith. tekti to fall to the lot of. Cf. Tight, a.] To thrive; to prosper. [Obs.] ``He shall never thee.''
--Chaucer.

Well mote thee, as well can wish your thought.
--Spenser.

Thee \Thee\ ([th][=e]), pron. [AS. [eth][=e], acc. & dat. of The objective case of thou. See Thou.

Note: Thee is poetically used for thyself, as him for himself, etc.

This sword hath ended him; so shall it thee, Unless thou yield thee as my prisoner.
--Shak.

Old English þe (accusative and dative singular of þu "thou"), from Proto-Germanic *theke (cognates: Old Frisian thi, Middle Dutch di, Old High German dih, German dich, Old Norse þik, Norwegian deg, Gothic þuk), from PIE *tege-, accusative of root *tu-, second person singular pronoun (see thou). The verb meaning "to use the pronoun 'thee' to someone" is recorded from 1662, in connection with the rise of Quakerism.\n

\nIn Middle English, people began to use plural forms in all cases, at first as a sign of respect to superiors, then as a courtesy to equals. By the 1600s, the singular forms had come to represent familiarity and lack of status, and fell from use except in the case of a few dialects, notably in the north of England. People in Lancashire north of the Rossendale Forest and Yorkshire formerly were noted for use of the singular second person pronouns tha (nom.) and thee (acc.). For religious reasons (Christian equality of persons, but also justified as grammatically correct), the Quakers also retained the familiar forms.\n\nThou and Thee was a sore cut to proud flesh and them that sought self-honour, who, though they would say it to God and Christ, could not endure to have it said to themselves. So that we were often beaten and abused, and sometimes in danger of our lives, for using those words to some proud men, who would say, "What! you ill-bred clown, do you Thou me?" as though Christian breeding consisted in saying You to one; which is contrary to all their grammar and teaching books, by which they instructed their youth. [George Fox's journal, 1661]\n

\n\n
\nWhile the Quakers originally adopted "thee" and "thou" on account of their grammatical correctness, they soon fell into the careless habit of using "thee," the objective, instead of "thou," the nominative. Common illustrations are: "How does thee do?" or "Will thee," etc.

[George Fox Tucker, "A Quaker Home," Boston, 1891]

Etymology 1 pron. 1 (context archaic literary English) (non-gloss definition objective case Objective case of '''''thou'''''.) 2 (context Quaker Amish Pennsylvania Dutch English English) thou. vb. (context transitive English) To address (somebody) as "thee"; to thou. Etymology 2

alt. (context intransitive archaic literary UK dialectal English) To thrive; prosper. vb. (context intransitive archaic literary UK dialectal English) To thrive; prosper. Etymology 3

n. The name of the letter ⟨'''('''⟩, which stands for the ''th'' sound (IPA /ð/ English) in Pitman shorthand.

Thee is a 1981 Tamil film directed R. Krishnamurthy. Rajinikanth plays the lead role and Suman plays the role of his brother. It is a remake of the classic Hindi film Deewar starring Bollywood Mega Star Amitabh Bachchan with Shashi Kapoor, Neetu Singh and Parveen Babi. The Hindi film was directed by Yash Chopra.

Thee (Fire) is a Tamil movie starring Sundar C, Namitha and Ramya Raj in the lead roles. It was co-written, co-produced and directed by G. Kicha. The film was released on 27 February 2009. The film was a remake of the Telugu film Operation Duryodhana.

Thee is an archaic form of 'you'.

Thee may also refer to:

• Thee (1981 film), Tamil film about two brothers: one a policeman, the other a smuggler
• Thee (2009 film), Tamil film about an honest policeman who becomes a corrupt politician
• Stephan Thee, German footballer