Note: these 'words' (valid or invalid) are all the permutations of the word thou. These words are obtained by scrambling the letters in thou.
Definitions and meaning of thou
thou
Etymology 1
From Middle Englishthou, tho, thogh, thoue, thouȝ, thow, thowe, tou, towe, thu, thue, thugh, tu, you(Northern England), ðhu, þeou, þeu, þou(the latter three early Southwest England), from Old Englishþū, from Proto-West Germanic*þū, from Proto-Germanic*þū(“you (singular), thou”), from Proto-Indo-European*túh₂(“you, thou”).
(archaic, dialectal, literary, religion, or humorous)Nominative singular of ye(“you”). [chiefly up to early 17th c.]
For more quotations using this term, see Citations:thou.
Usage notes
When the subject of a verb in the indicative mood is thou, the verb usually ends in -est, in both the present and simple past tenses, as in “Lovest thou me?” (from John 21:17 of the King James Bible). This is the case even for modal verbs, which do not specially conjugate for the third person singular. A few verbs have irregular present forms: art (of be), hast (of have), dost (of do), wost (of wit), canst (of can), shalt (of shall), and wilt (of will). Must does not change. In weak past tenses, the ending is either -edest or contracted -edst. In the subjunctive, as is normal, the bare form is usually used. However, thoubeest is sometimes used instead of thou be.
Traditionally, use of thou and ye followed the T–V distinction, thou being the informal pronoun and ye, the plural, being used in its place in formal situations. This is preserved in the dialects in which thou is still in everyday use, but in Standard English, due to the pronoun’s association with religious texts and poetry, some speakers find it more solemn or even formal.
Occasionally thou was, and to a lesser extent still is, used to represent a translated language’s second-person singular-plural distinction, disregarding English’s T–V distinction by translating the second-person singular as thou even where English would likely use ye instead. It is also sometimes still used to represent a translated language’s T–V distinction.
Alternative forms
du, tha, thoo, thow, thu
Derived terms
Translations
See also
Etymology 2
From Late Middle Englishthouen, theu, thew, thou, thowe, thowen, thui, thuy(“to address (a person) with thou, particularly in a contemptuous or polite manner”), from the pronoun thou: see etymology 1 above.
Pronunciation
(Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: thou, IPA(key): /ðaʊ/
Rhymes: -aʊ
Verb
thou (third-person singular simple presentthous, present participlethouing, simple past and past participlethoued)
(transitive) To address (a person) using the pronoun thou, especially as an expression of contempt or familiarity.
Synonym:thee
Antonym:you
(intransitive) To use the word thou.
Synonym:thee
Antonym:you
Related terms
tutoy, tutoyer
Translations
Etymology 3
Clipping of thou(sandth).
Pronunciation
(Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: thou, IPA(key): /θaʊ/
Rhymes: -aʊ
Noun
thou (pluralthous)
(British) A unit of length equal to one-thousandth of an inch (25.4 µm).
Synonym:(US)mil
Etymology 4
Clipping of thou(sand).
Pronunciation
(Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: thou, IPA(key): /θaʊ/
Rhymes: -aʊ
Noun
thou (pluralthou)
(slang) A thousand, especially a thousand of some currency (dollars, pounds sterling, etc.).
(archaic outside Orkney and Shetland)thou, you (2nd person singular subject pronoun, informal)
Usage notes
Regularly used throughout Scotland up until the middle of the 1800s; now only used as an archaism outside Shetland and Orkney.
References
“thou, pers. pron, v.” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.
Yola
Alternative forms
th'
Etymology
From Middle Englishþou, from Old Englishþū, from Proto-West Germanic*þū.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ðuː/, /ð/
Pronoun
thou
thou
Synonym:thee
Derived terms
th'ast
th'art
yarthe
References
Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 31