Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

I

I

(ī)
,
p
ron.
[
p
oss.
My
(mī)
or
Mine
(mīn)
;
obj
ect.
Me
(mē)
.
pl.
nom.
We
(wē)
;
p
oss.
Our
(our)
or
Ours
(ourz)
;
obj
ect.
Us
(ŭs)
.
]
[OE.
i
,
ich
,
ic
, AS.
ic
; akin to OS. & D.
ik
, OHG.
ih
, G.
ich
, Icel.
ek
, Dan.
jeg
, Sw.
jag
, Goth.
ik
, OSlav.
az’
, Russ.
ia
, W.
i
, L.
ego
, Gr.
ἐγώ
,
ἐγών
, Skr.
aham
. √179. Cf.
Egoism
.]
The nominative case of the pronoun of the first person; the word with which a speaker or writer denotes himself.

Webster 1828 Edition

I

I

is the ninth letter,and the third vowel of the English Alphabet. We receive it through the Latin and Greek from the Shemitic jod,je, or ye, in Greek iwra,whence our English word jot. The vowel in French, and in most European languages, has the long fine sound which we express by e in me, or ee in seen, meek. This sound we retain in some foreign words which are naturalized in our language, as in machine, intrigue. But in most English words this long sound is shortened, as in holiness, pity, gift; in which words the sound of i coincides with that of y in hypocrite,cycle,and at the end of words, in unaccented syllables, as in holy, glory. It is this short sound of the French and Italian i, which we hear in the pronunciation of been, which we pronounce bin. After l, this letter has sometimes the liquid sound of y, as in million, pronounced milyon. This sound corresponds with that of the Hebrews, as in Joseph, which in Syria is pronounced Yoseph,and with the sound of the German j, as in ja, jahr, that is ya, yahr.
The sound of i long, as in fine, kind, arise, is diphthongal; it begins with a sound approaching that of broad a, but it is not exactly the same, as the organs are not opened to the same extent, and therefore the sound begins a little above that of aw. The sound, if continued,closes with one that nearly approaches to that of e long. This sound can be learned only by the ear. This letter enters into several digraphs, as in fail, field,seize, feign, vein, friend; and with o in oil,join, coin,it helps to form a proper diphthong.
No English word ends with i, but when the sound of the letter occurs at the end of a word,it is expressed by y.
As a numeral I signifies one, and stands for as many units as it is repeated in times, as II, two, III, three, &c. When it stands before V or X, it subtracts itself,and the numerals denote one less than the V or the X. Thus IV expresses four, one less than V, five; IX stands for nine, one less than X, ten. But when it is placed after V or X, it denotes the addition of an unit, or as many units as the letter is repeated in times. Thus VI is five and one, or six, and XI is ten and one, or eleven; VIII stands for five and three, or eight, &c.

I

, formerly prefixed to some English words, as in ibuilt, is a contraction of the Saxon prefix ge; and more generally this was written y.

I

, pron. [L. ego.] The pronoun of the first person; the word which expresses one's self, or that by which a speaker or writer denotes himself. It is only the nominative case of the pronoun; in the other cases we use me. I am attached to study; study delights me. We often hear in popular language the phrase it is me, which is now considered to be ungrammatical, for it is I. But the phrase may have come down to us from the use of the Welsh mi, or from the French use of the phrase, c'est moi.

I

n the plural, we use we, and us, which appear to be words radically distinct from I.
Johnson observes that Shakespeare uses I for ay or yes. In this he is not followed, and the use is incorrect.

Definition 2024

I

I


I U+0049, I
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I
← H
[U+0048] 		Basic Latin J →
[U+004A]
See also: Appendix:Variations of "i"

Translingual

Alternative forms

  • (Roman numeral one): Ⅰ, i, ⅰ
  • ("Cardinal number read ordinal", i.e. ordinal): I.

Letter

I upper case (lower case i)

  1. The ninth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.

I upper case (lower case ı)

  1. The letter i without a dot above, in both the upper case and the lower case versions.

See also

Symbol

I

  1. (chemistry) Symbol for iodine.
  2. (physics) Isotopic spin.
  3. (license plate codes) Italy
  4. (physics, electronics) Electrical current.
  5. (biochemistry) IUPAC 1-letter abbreviation for isoleucine
  6. (mathematics, linear algebra) identity matrix
  7. (analysis, topology) the (closed) unit interval; [0, 1]
  8. (inorganic chemistry) Specifying an oxidation state of 1

Numeral

I ‎(upper case Roman numeral, lower case i)

  1. cardinal number one.

Usage notes

In titles, this is read as "the first" in English, so George I is read George the first.

See also

See also

Other representations of I:

References

  • “I” in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.
  • “I” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.

English

Pronoun

I ‎(first person singular subject personal pronoun, objective me, possessive my, possessive pronoun mine, reflexive myself)

  1. The speaker or writer, referred to as the grammatical subject, of a sentence.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.ii:
      It ill beseemes a knight of gentle sort, / Such as ye haue him boasted, to beguile / A simple mayd, and worke so haynous tort, / In shame of knighthood, as I largely can report.
Usage notes
  • The word I is always capitalised in written English. Other forms of the pronoun, such as me and my, follow regular English capitalisation rules.
  • Using I in the objective case (e.g.: It is I.; Only I.; You're taller than I.) is considered too formal for almost all context, especially in British English.
Synonyms
Translations
See also

Noun

I ‎(uncountable)

  1. (metaphysics) The ego.
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Letter

I ‎(upper case, lower case i, plural Is or I's)

  1. The ninth letter of the English alphabet, called i and written in the Latin script.
See also

Number

I ‎(upper case, lower case i)

  1. The ordinal number ninth, derived from this letter of the English alphabet, called i and written in the Latin script.

Etymology 3

Abbreviation.

Noun

I ‎(countable and uncountable, plural Is)

  1. (US, roadway) interstate
  2. (grammar) Abbreviation of instrumental case.

Etymology 4

Interjection

I

  1. Obsolete spelling of aye

References

  • “I” in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.
  • “I” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
  • "I" in WordNet 2.0, Princeton University, 2003.

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: and · to · in · #6: I · that · was · he

American Sign Language

Letter

‎(Stokoe I)

  1. The letter I

Azeri

Letter

I upper case (lower case ı)

  1. The thirteenth letter of the Azeri alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse ír, variant of ér, from Proto-Germanic *jūz, from Proto-Indo-European *yū́.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈi] or IPA(key): [i]

Pronoun

I ‎(objective jer, possessive jeres)

  1. (personal) you, you all (second person plural)
    I må ikke gå derind!
    You can't go in there!
    • 2014, Diverse forfattere, Fire uger blev til fire år - og andre beretninger, Lindhardt og Ringhof (ISBN 9788711336083)
      Og så er der forresten lidt mere med det samme: I må love os een ting. mor og far, I må ikke efterligne os unge! — For gør I det, ja, så kommer I til at se så morsomme ud. — I må ikke prøve på at løbe fra jeres alder, for det kan I alligevel ikke.
      And by the way, there's something else: You must promise us one thing, mum and dad, you may not imitate us young! — For if you do, you will look so funny. — you may not try to run way from your age, for you can't do that anyway.
    • 1981, Mogens Wolstrup, Vild hyben: danske forfattere skriver om jalousi
      Men det er ikke jeres skyld, siger Ditte. I er unge og kloge. I er grimme og fantastisk smukke. I har modet! I er på rette vej med jeres show. Jeg føler med jeres oprør, og måske derfor kunne jeg ikke klare mere. Jeres hud er glat, I er startet i tide.
      But it is not your fault, Ditte says. You are young and intelligent. You are ugly and amazingly beautiful. You have the courage! You are on the right path with your show. I feel with your rebellion, and perhaps for that reason, I couldn't take any more. Your skin is smooth, you started in time.
    • 2011, Per Ullidtz, Absalons Europa, BoD – Books on Demand (ISBN 9788771142396), page 229
      Og lidt senere ”I har hørt at det er sagt: øje for øje og tand for tand. Men jeg siger jer, at I må ikke sætte jer imod det onde; men dersom nogen giver dig et slag på din højre kind, da vend ham også den anden til! ...
      And a little later ”you have heard it said: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, you may not resist evil; but if anyone hits you on the right cheek, turn the other towards [whoever hit you]! ...

See also

Dutch

Pronunciation

  • (letter name): IPA(key): /i/

Letter

I ‎(capital, lowercase i)

  1. The ninth letter of the Dutch alphabet.

See also

  • Previous letter: H
  • Next letter: J

Esperanto

Letter

I ‎(upper case, lower case i)

  1. The twelfth letter of the Esperanto alphabet, called i and written in the Latin script.

See also

Finnish

Letter

I ‎(upper case, lower case i)

  1. The ninth letter of the Finnish alphabet, called ii and written in the Latin script.

See also

Abbreviation

I

  1. improbatur

German

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʔiː/

Letter

I ‎(upper case, lower case i)

  1. The ninth letter of the German alphabet.

Italian

Pronunciation

  • (phoneme; name of letter) IPA(key): /i/
  • (phoneme, when followed by a vowel in the same syllable) IPA(key): /j/

Letter

I m, f ‎(invariable lower case, i)

  1. The ninth letter of the Italian alphabet, called i and written in the Latin script.

See also

Latvian

Etymology

Proposed in 1908 as part of the new Latvian spelling by the scientific commission headed by K. Mīlenbahs, which was accepted and began to be taught in schools in 1909. Prior to that, Latvian had been written in German Fraktur, and sporadically in Cyrillic.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [i]

Letter

I

I ‎(upper case, lower case i)

  1. The thirteenth letter of the Latvian alphabet, called i and written in the Latin script.

See also

Malay

Pronunciation

  • (Name of letter) IPA(key): [ai̯]
  • (Phoneme) IPA(key): [i]
  • (Phoneme, Closed ultima) IPA(key): [e]

Letter

I

  1. The ninth letter of the Malay alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old English iċ, from Proto-Germanic [Term?], from Proto-Indo-European [Term?]. More at English I

Pronunciation

Pronoun

I

  1. I (first-person singular subject pronoun)

Norwegian Bokmål

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /je/

Pronoun

I

  1. (dialect) I: a first-person singular personal pronoun
  2. (rare, archaic) you: a second-person plural nominative pronoun

Portuguese

Letter

I ‎(upper case, lower case i)

  1. The ninth letter of the Portuguese alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Romanian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /i/

Letter

I (capital, lowercase i)

  1. The eleventh letter of the Romanian alphabet generally representing the phoneme /i/. Preceded by H and followed by Î.

Usage notes

  • Before vowels, this letter usually takes on the sound of /j/
    ianuarie /'ja.nu.a.ri.e/
  • At the ends of words (except verb infinitives, and those ending in a consonant cluster ending in l or r), the letter palatalizes the previous syllable and is "whispered": /ʲ/
    băieţi /bə'jetsʲ/

Saanich

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /i/

Letter

I

  1. The eleventh letter of the Saanich alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Skolt Sami

Pronunciation

  • (phoneme) IPA(key): /i/, /j/

Letter

I ‎(lower case i)

  1. The sixteenth letter of the Skolt Sami alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Slovene

Letter

I ‎(capital, lowercase i)

  1. The 10th letter of the Slovene alphabet. Preceded by H and followed by J.

Somali

Pronunciation

  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /ɪ/, /i/
  • (letter name): IPA(key): /ʔɪ/

Letter

I upper case (lower case i)

  1. The twenty-fifth letter of the Somali alphabet, called i and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

  1. The twenty-fifth letter of the Somali alphabet, which follows Arabic abjad order. It is preceded by E and followed by O.

See also

Spanish

Letter

I ‎(upper case, lower case i)

  1. The ninth letter of the Spanish alphabet.

Abbreviation

I

  1. Ilustre
    La I municipalidad de Valparaíso.

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish ī, īr, from Old Norse ír, variant of ér, from Proto-Germanic *jīz, variant of *jūz, from Proto-Indo-European *yū́.

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -iː

Pronoun

I ‎(personal pronoun)

  1. (archaic) you (second-person plural nominative)

Synonyms

Turkish

Letter

I ‎(upper case, lower case ı)

  1. The eleventh letter of the Turkish alphabet, called ı and written in the Latin script.

See also

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

  • (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [ʔi˧˧/, /ʔi˧˧ ŋɐn˧ˀ˦]
  • (Huế) IPA(key): [ʔɪj˧˧/, /ʔɪj˧˧ ŋɐŋ˦˥]
  • (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA(key): [ʔɪj˧˥/, /ʔɪj˧˥ ŋɐŋ˦ˀ˥]
  • Phonetic: i, i ngắn

Letter

I ‎(upper case, lower case i)

  1. The twelfth letter of the Vietnamese alphabet, called i or i ngắn and written in the Latin script.

See also

ı

ı

ı U+0131, ı
LATIN SMALL LETTER DOTLESS I
← İ
[U+0130] 		Latin Extended-A IJ →
[U+0132]
See also: -ı and Appendix:Variations of "i"

Translingual

Letter

ı lower case (upper case I)

  1. The letter i without a dot above, in both the upper case and the lower case versions.

See also

Azeri

Letter

ı lower case (upper case I)

  1. The thirteenth letter of the Azeri alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Crimean Tatar

Letter

ı lower case (upper case I)

  1. The eleventh letter of the Crimean Tatar alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Gagauz

Letter

ı ‎(lower case I)

  1. The twelfth letter of the Gagauz alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Turkish

Letter

ı ‎(lower case, upper case I)

  1. The eleventh letter of the Turkish alphabet, called ı and written in the Latin script.

See also

Noun

ı

  1. The name of the Latin-script letter I/ı.

See also

Etymology

From Middle English I, ik (also ich), from Old English ih, ic ‎(“I”), from Proto-Germanic *ik, *ek ‎(“I”), from Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂ ‎(“I”). Cognate with Scots I, ik, A ‎(“I”), West Frisian ik ‎(“I”), Dutch ik ‎(“I”), Low German ik ‎(“I”), German ich ‎(“I”), Bavarian I ‎(“I”), Danish jeg ‎(“I”), Norwegian jeg, eg ‎(“I”), Norwegian I ‎(“I”) (dialectal), Swedish jag ‎(“I”), Icelandic ég, eg ‎(“I”), Latin ego ‎(“I”), Ancient Greek ἐγώ ‎(egṓ), Russian я ‎(ja, “I”), Lithuanian aš ‎(“I”). See also ich.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /iː/

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