"they" meaning in English

See they in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Pronoun

IPA: /ðeɪ/ Audio: en-uk-they.ogg [UK], en-us-they.ogg [US]
enPR: thā
  1. "They" is used to talk about two or more people, not you or the person you are speaking to.
    Sense id: simple-they-en-pron-P1sp29XU
  2. "They" is used to talk about two or more things.
    Sense id: simple-they-en-pron-eJ5tG68U
  3. "They" is used to talk about one or more person when you don't know the sex or number.
    Sense id: simple-they-en-pron-pMRRIrvh
  4. "They" is used to talk about people in general.
    Sense id: simple-they-en-pron-dNCZbgDh
     
{
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "pron",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I love Josie and Reg. They are nice people."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "\"They\" is used to talk about two or more people, not you or the person you are speaking to."
      ],
      "id": "simple-they-en-pron-P1sp29XU"
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Can you get the books for me? They're over there."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "\"They\" is used to talk about two or more things."
      ],
      "id": "simple-they-en-pron-eJ5tG68U"
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "If a person is fast, they can get there early."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "\"They\" is used to talk about one or more person when you don't know the sex or number."
      ],
      "id": "simple-they-en-pron-pMRRIrvh"
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "When are they going to finish that new building?"
        },
        {
          "text": "They say you should drink eight glasses of water a day."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "\"They\" is used to talk about people in general."
      ],
      "id": "simple-they-en-pron-dNCZbgDh"
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "enpr": "thā"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ðeɪ/"
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/DeI/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-uk-they.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-they.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "they"
}

{
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "pron",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I love Josie and Reg. They are nice people."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "\"They\" is used to talk about two or more people, not you or the person you are speaking to."
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Can you get the books for me? They're over there."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "\"They\" is used to talk about two or more things."
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "If a person is fast, they can get there early."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "\"They\" is used to talk about one or more person when you don't know the sex or number."
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "When are they going to finish that new building?"
        },
        {
          "text": "They say you should drink eight glasses of water a day."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "\"They\" is used to talk about people in general."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "enpr": "thā"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ðeɪ/"
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/DeI/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-uk-they.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-they.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "they"
}

Download raw JSONL data for they meaning in English (1.0kB)

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-10 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (df33d17 and 4ed51a5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.