From Vulgar Latin*eo (compare Romanianeu and Italianio); from Latinego, from Proto-Italic*egō, from Proto-Indo-European*éǵh₂.
Pronoun
io (first-person singular, pluralnoi)
I
Declension
Italian
Alternative forms
jo(obsolete)
Etymology
From Old Italianeo, from Vulgar Latin*eo, from Latinego(“I”), from Proto-Italic*egō, from Proto-Indo-European*éǵh₂. Akin to Catalanjo and Spanishyo.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ˈi.o/, [ˈiːo], (in fast speech)[ˈio̯]
Hyphenation: ì‧o
Pronoun
io (personal, first person, possessivemio)
I, the first person
Usage notes
Italians avoid expressing personal pronouns both in written and spoken language, preferring to use just the inflected verb (an example would be: Am going for a walk, way more common than I am going for a walk; Is good-looking instead of She is good-looking). The explicit usage of personal pronouns may sound redundant to a native speaker, except when the purpose of the sentence is to specify the subject or the object (He is the one I was talking about).
The second-person pronoun in particular can sound confidential and, in some cases, even impolite.
See also
Japanese
Romanization
io
Rōmaji transcription of いお
Latin
Etymology
Echoic; compare Greek ἰώ(iṓ), or English yo.
Pronunciation
(Classical) IPA(key): /ˈi.oː/
(Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈi.o/, [ˈiː.ɔ]
Interjection
iō
An exclamation of joy or pain, or for getting one's attention.
References
io in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
io in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
io in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
io in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia[2]
io in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
io in William Smith, editor (1848) A Dictionary of Greek Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
Neapolitan
Alternative forms
ijo, ieo, je, j', i'
Etymology
From Vulgar Latin*eo, from Latinego. Compare Italianio.
Pronoun
io
I, the first-person singular nominative pronoun
Coordinate terms
Old Dutch
Etymology
From Proto-Germanic*aiwaz.
Adverb
io
always, every time, continuously
ever, at some point, sometime
Alternative forms
ie
Further reading
“ie”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012
Old High German
Etymology
From Proto-West Germanic*aiw, whence also Old Englishā, Old Saxoneo, Old Norseei, Old Dutchēwa, io.