they

Etymology 1
From, borrowed in the 1200s from , plural of the demonstrative which acted as a plural pronoun. Displaced native from  — which vowel changes had left indistinct from  — by the 1400s,  being readily incorporated alongside native words beginning with the same sound. Used as a singular pronoun since 1300, e.g. in the 1325 Cursor Mundi.

The Norse term (whence also 🇨🇬, 🇨🇬, 🇨🇬, 🇨🇬, 🇨🇬) is from (from ), whence also 🇨🇬 (whence obsolete English ), 🇨🇬,,.

The origin of the determiner is unclear. The OED, English Dialect Dictionary and Middle English Dictionary define it and its Middle English predecessor as a demonstrative determiner or adjective meaning "those" or "the". This could be a continuation of the use of the English pronoun 's Old Norse etymon as a demonstrative meaning "those", but the OED and EDD say it is limited to southern, especially southwestern, England, specifically outside the region of Norse contact.

Pronoun

 * 1)   A group of entities previously mentioned.
 * 2)   A single person, previously mentioned, but typically not if previously named and identified as male or female, especially if of unknown, irrelevant or (since 21st century) non-binary gender. Now increasingly used for an unnamed person even if the gender of the person is identified.
 * 3) * 2008,, quoted in , Michelle Obama in Her Own Words, New York, NY: PublicAffairs, 2009. ISBN 978 1 58648 762 1, page 18:
 * One thing a nominee earns is the right to pick the vice president that they think will best reflect their vision of the country, and I am just glad I will have nothing to do with it.
 * 1) * 2015 April, (mayor of Baltimore), commenting on the death of Freddie Gray:
 * I'm angry that we're here again, that we have had to tell another mother that their child is dead.
 * 1)   People; some people; people in general; someone, excluding the speaker.
 * 2)   The authorities: government, police, employers, etc.
 * 3)  The opponents of the side which is keeping score.
 * 1) * 2008,, quoted in , Michelle Obama in Her Own Words, New York, NY: PublicAffairs, 2009. ISBN 978 1 58648 762 1, page 18:
 * One thing a nominee earns is the right to pick the vice president that they think will best reflect their vision of the country, and I am just glad I will have nothing to do with it.
 * 1) * 2015 April, (mayor of Baltimore), commenting on the death of Freddie Gray:
 * I'm angry that we're here again, that we have had to tell another mother that their child is dead.
 * 1)   People; some people; people in general; someone, excluding the speaker.
 * 2)   The authorities: government, police, employers, etc.
 * 3)  The opponents of the side which is keeping score.
 * 1) * 2015 April, (mayor of Baltimore), commenting on the death of Freddie Gray:
 * I'm angry that we're here again, that we have had to tell another mother that their child is dead.
 * 1)   People; some people; people in general; someone, excluding the speaker.
 * 2)   The authorities: government, police, employers, etc.
 * 3)  The opponents of the side which is keeping score.
 * 1)   The authorities: government, police, employers, etc.
 * 2)  The opponents of the side which is keeping score.
 * 1)   The authorities: government, police, employers, etc.
 * 2)  The opponents of the side which is keeping score.
 * 1)   The authorities: government, police, employers, etc.
 * 2)  The opponents of the side which is keeping score.
 * 1)  The opponents of the side which is keeping score.
 * 1)  The opponents of the side which is keeping score.
 * 1)  The opponents of the side which is keeping score.

Usage notes

 * Usage of they as a singular pronoun began in the 1300s and has been common ever since, despite attempts by some grammarians, beginning in 1795, to condemn it as a violation of traditional (Latinate) agreement rules. Some other grammarians have countered that criticism since at least 1896. Fowler's Modern English Usage (third edition) notes that it "is being left unaltered by copy editors" and is "not widely felt to lie in a prohibited zone." Some authors compare use of singular they to widespread use of singular you instead of thou. See  for more; see also the usage notes about themself. (Compare he.)
 * Even when used as a singular pronoun, in standard English singular they uses the same verb conjugations as plural they, like singular and plural you: "George, you were [not was] here when the masked figure ran past, were [not was] they wearing red or blue?"
 * Infrequently, they is used of an individual person of known, binary gender. See citations.
 * Infrequently, they is used of an individual animal which would more commonly be referred to as it. See citations.
 * One is also an indefinite pronoun, but the two words do not mean the same thing and are rarely interchangeable. "They" refers to people in general (hence the expressions, , ), whereas "one" refers to one person (often such that what is true for that person is true for everyone). You may also be used to refer to people in general; such use of that pronoun is called the generic you.
 * They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
 * One may say, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
 * You may say, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

Determiner

 * 1)  The, those.
 * 2) * 1878, Louis John Jennings, Field Paths and Green Lanes, quoting an old East Sussex man:
 * "They rooks as you see [...] only coom a few year agoo."
 * 1) * 1901, Gwendoline Keats (of Devon), Tales of Dunstáble Weir, page 55:
 * "Bodies and souls," she cried, "if I didn't reckon to have hidden they boots safe from un in the stick-rick." "Off wi&apos; they tight-wasted shoes o' yours, Martha."
 * 1)  Their.
 * "Bodies and souls," she cried, "if I didn't reckon to have hidden they boots safe from un in the stick-rick." "Off wi&apos; they tight-wasted shoes o' yours, Martha."
 * 1)  Their.
 * 1)  Their.

Etymology 2
From earlier, from.

Pronoun

 * 1)  There.