# we

Pronunciation: say "WEE" US /wi/, UK /wiː/

## Pronoun

1. Used by a speaker or writer to refer to themselves together with one or more other people, whether or not including the person addressed.
   - Simple: The person speaking together with one or more other people.
   - _My roommates and I are having a barbecue on Saturday, and we would love you to come._
   - _My sister and I grew up here, so we know every path._
2. Used by a speaker for a group they belong to, act for, or identify with, such as their company, newspaper, government, team, or country.
   - Simple: Used for a group you belong to or support, like your company, team, or country.
   - _We at the Gazette stand by our reporting._
   - _As a bank, we take fraud seriously._
3. People in general or humanity as a whole, including the speaker.
   - Simple: People in general, or all human beings, including the speaker.
   - _We know surprisingly little about the deep ocean._
   - _The older we get, the faster the years seem to pass._
4. In explanatory or procedural writing, especially mathematics, used to include the reader in the steps being worked through.
   - Simple: Used in explanations, such as math, to walk the reader through the steps together.
   - _We now show that the sequence converges._
   - _Having sanded the surface, we apply the first coat._
5. Used informally by a speaker to mean only themselves, as when talking to themselves or narrating their own actions to an audience. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Used to mean 'I', when talking to yourself or describing what you are doing to others.
   - _Filming herself on her solo hike, the vlogger said, “Now we head up to the waterfall.”_
   - _Recalling her first solo flight, the pilot said, “So we take off, and my hands are shaking.”_
7. Used to mean 'you' when addressing one person or a group, often by someone in charge such as a nurse or teacher, sometimes patronizingly ('How are we today?'). *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Used to mean 'you', often by nurses or teachers, as in 'How are we feeling today?'
   - _And how are we today? Any pain in the knee?_
   - _Now, we mustn't touch the stove, must we?_
8. Used by a sovereign to refer to themselves alone when speaking as monarch.
   - Simple: Used by a king or queen to mean 'I' when speaking as the monarch.
   - _We ourself will lead the army into France._
   - _By these presents we do appoint our trusty cousin lieutenant of the shire._
9. A third person, especially someone in the speaker's care, spoken of as if including the speaker. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Used by a carer about the person they look after, as if speaking for both.
   - _Ask the carer how Dad is and she'll say we've had a quiet week._
   - _The vet called: we are eating again and much brighter._
11. Used by a lone author or speaker instead of I, chiefly in scholarly writing, to make the voice less personal and less self-centered.
   - Simple: Used by one writer or speaker instead of "I", especially in school or research papers, to sound less personal.
   - _In this dissertation we propose a new model of coastal erosion._
   - _As the study's sole author, Dr. Ruiz still wrote, "We found no significant link between the two variables."_

## Determiner

6. Used before a noun to mark the speaker or speakers as belonging to or making up the named group.
   - Simple: Used before a noun to say that the speaker belongs to that group of people.
   - _We the people of this town will not be ignored._
   - _Nobody asked what we drivers thought of the new tolls._

## Pronoun

10. In some regional dialects, used as the object form, meaning us. *(archaic, West Country)*
   - Simple: In some regional speech, such as Tyneside or old West Country, used as the object, meaning 'us'.
   - _Don't 'ee leave we behind, Jack._
   - _The squire gave we a shilling apiece._

## Other meanings

- (pronoun) In bridge scoring, the side keeping the score, as opposed to they, the opponents; also the heading of that side's column on the score sheet.

## Origin

This word comes from Middle English "we," from Old English "wē," going back through Proto-Germanic to the Proto-Indo-European root "*wéy" ("we"). It is related to Dutch "we"/"wij," German "wir," and the Scandinavian "vi."

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