# me

Pronunciation: say "MEE" US /mi/, UK /miː/

## Pronoun

1. The form of I used as the object of a verb or preposition.
   - Simple: The form of I used after a verb or a preposition, as in 'Help me' or 'Come with me.'
   - _The dog followed me home._
   - _They sent me the wrong parcel._
2. The first-person singular pronoun used on its own, after be, or in apposition, where the object form is the normal choice.
   - Simple: The word for yourself when it stands alone or comes after is, as in it's me.
   - _"Who wants ice cream?" "Me!"_
   - _Me, I prefer the train._
4. Used instead of I as a subject, usually joined to another subject by and; common in speech but considered incorrect in formal English. *(nonstandard)*
   - Simple: Used instead of I as the subject of a verb, usually when joined to another person by and.
   - _Me and Priya are starting a band._
   - _Jack and me got there first._
5. Used informally or in old-fashioned style to mean myself, as in 'I'll get me a car' or 'I lay me down'. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Used instead of myself after a verb, often to mean for myself.
   - _I'll find me a quiet corner and read._
   - _She cooked, and I got me a plate._
7. Used instead of I as a subject, often with the verb missing, to imitate or mock limited English. *(nonstandard)*
   - Simple: Used instead of I to copy or make fun of someone who speaks little English.
   - _Me go to town tomorrow. (nonstandard)_
   - _Me not understand this letter. (nonstandard)_

## Noun

3. The speaker's own self or personality.
   - Simple: My real self, used as a noun, as in 'the real me'.
   - _After the move, I felt like a different me._
   - _After the divorce, I had to figure out who the real me was._

## Determiner

6. Regional and colloquial form of my ('get off me cheese!'), heard in British dialects, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, and written to render that speech. *(dialectal, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, UK)* — Alternative form of my.
   - Simple: A spoken form of my, used in parts of Britain, Ireland and Australia.
   - _I've lost me glasses again._
   - _Me mum says I have to be home by nine._

## Other meanings

- (noun) Solfège syllable for the flattened third degree of the major scale ('mi' lowered by a semitone), in the movable-do systems that name chromatic notes.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–5, 7** — This comes from Middle English me, from Old English mē (originally dative but later also accusative, replacing the accusative mec), from Proto-West Germanic *miʀ, from Proto-Germanic *miz, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁me-. It is cognate with Dutch me, German mir, Latin mē, Ancient Greek μέ (mé), and Sanskrit मा (mā).
**Meaning 6** — A spelling of my as it sounds in some dialects: Middle English my was said with the vowel of see, and while the Great Vowel Shift moved most speech to the modern sound, some dialects kept or brought back the older one.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/me (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).