my

Clipping of English Myanmar, formerly Burma, where Burmese is spoken.

my

1. (international standards) ISO 639-1 language code for Burmese.

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Burmese terms

• ma, mah, me, muh, I's

• (stressed) enPR: mī IPA^(key): /maɪ/
  • (Canada, Dialectal) IPA^(key): /mʌɪ/, [məi̯]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (unstressed) IPA^(key): /maɪ/, /mə/
  • (UK, Ottawa Valley) IPA^(key): /mɪ/, /mi/
• (Ireland, Liverpool, some speakers) IPA^(key): /mi/
• Homophones: muh, me (some dialects)
• Rhymes: -aɪ

From Middle English mi, my, apocopated form of min, myn, from Old English mīn (“my, mine”), from Proto-West Germanic *mīn, from Proto-Germanic *mīnaz (“my, mine”, pron.) (possessive of *ek (“I”)), from Proto-Indo-European *méynos (“my; mine”).

Cognate with West Frisian myn (“my”), Afrikaans my (“my”), Dutch mijn (“my”), German mein (“my”), Swedish min (“my”). More at me.

my

1. First-person singular possessive determiner. See Appendix:Possessive#English.
   1. Belonging to me.

      I can't find my book.

      • 2022 October 14, Justin Curto, “The 1975’s Matty Healy Prefers Writing Lyrics He’s Afraid Of”, in Vulture‎^[2], archived from the original on 18 October 2022:

        Everyone always asks what my advice is, and my advice is don’t overintellectualize your art.

   2. Associated with me.

      My seat at the restaurant was uncomfortable.

      Don't you know my name?

      I recognised him because he had attended my school.

   3. Related to me.

      My parents won't let me go out tonight.

      • 1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 10, lines 165-166:

        From what conſummate vertue I have choſe / This perfect Man, by merit call'd my Son,

   4. In the possession of me.

      I have to take my books back to the library soon.

• mine

• → Japanese: マイ (mai-)

An abbreviation of an oath such as my word or my Lord

my

1. Used to express surprise, shock or amazement.

   My, what big teeth you have!

• my my

• IPA^(key): /məi/

From Dutch mij.

my (subject ek)

1. me (object)

• mij (obsolete)
• mijn (obsolete, rare)

From Dutch mijn.

my

1. my; of me

• mij (obsolete)
• mijn (obsolete)

• ma

• IPA^(key): /ma/

my

1. 1st person singular possessive determiner

From English my.

my

1. I (subject pronoun)

   Synonyms: I, me

   • 1836 January, “Jargon spoken at Canton: how it originated and has grown into use; mode in which the Chinese learn English; examples of the language in common use between foreigners and Chinese”, in The Chinese Repository, volume IV, number 9, page 433:

     ‘My wanchee takee go away alla this cover, putee nother piece,’ replied I.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. me (object pronoun)

   Synonym: me

3. my (possessive pronoun)

• me (Revived Late Cornish)

From Proto-Brythonic *mi, from Proto-Celtic *mī. Cognate with Breton me, Irish mé, Manx mee, Scottish Gaelic mi, and Welsh mi.

my

1. I, me

   My a welas.

   I saw.

Inherited from Old Czech my, from Proto-Slavic *my, from Proto-Indo-European *wéy.

• IPA^(key): [ˈmɪ]

• Audio:

  (file)

my

1. we

• “my”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “my”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “my”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

my n (singular definite myet, plural indefinite myer)

1. The Greek letter μ (mu)

my c

1. micron
2. (informal) a very small margin, distance or amount

• mikrometer
• mikron

• “my” in Den Danske Ordbog

• IPA^(key): /mɛi̯/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛi̯
• Homophone: mei

my

1. obsolete spelling of mij

• The spelling my was deprecated in a Dutch spelling reform.

From mj (“like”) +‎ -j (adverbializing suffix).

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /miː/
  • Conventional anglicization: my

1. likewise
2. accordingly

• James P[eter] Allen (2010), Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 86.

From Proto-Slavic *my, from Proto-Indo-European *nos.

my pl

1. we

From Old Irish má, from Proto-Celtic *mā, *ma (compare Cornish and Breton mar), see there for more.

• IPA^(key): /mə/, /ma/^[1]

my

1. if

Counterfactual conditional questions take dy.

Inherited from Old Irish mo (“my”)

• IPA^(key): /mə/

my (triggers lenition)

1. my

my (subjective pronoun I)

1. alternative form of mi

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *my.

• IPA^(key): (13^th CE) /ˈmɨ/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /ˈmi/

my

1. we (first person plural)

• Czech: my

• Jan Gebauer (1903–1916), “my”, in Slovník staročeský (in Czech), Prague: Česká grafická společnost "unie", Česká akademie císaře Františka Josefa pro vědy, slovesnost a umění

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *my. First attested in the 14th century.

• IPA^(key): (10^th–15^th CE) /mi/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /mi/

my

1. we; first person plural
2. we; I royal first person plural

• Polish: my
• Silesian: my

• B. Sieradzka-Baziur, Ewa Deptuchowa, Joanna Duska, Mariusz Frodyma, Beata Hejmo, Dorota Janeczko, Katarzyna Jasińska, Krystyna Kajtoch, Joanna Kozioł, Marian Kucała, Dorota Mika, Gabriela Niemiec, Urszula Poprawska, Elżbieta Supranowicz, Ludwika Szelachowska-Winiarzowa, Zofia Wanicowa, Piotr Szpor, Bartłomiej Borek, editors (2011–2015), “my, ny (?)”, in Słownik pojęciowy języka staropolskiego [Conceptual Dictionary of Old Polish] (in Polish), Kraków: IJP PAN, →ISBN

• Audio 1:

  (file)

• Audio 2:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɘ
• Syllabification: my

Inherited from Old Polish my.

my

1. we; first person plural
2. we; I royal first person plural
3. we; I editorial first person plural

• Appendix:Polish pronouns

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek μῦ (mû).

• mi

my n (indeclinable)

1. mu (Greek letter Μ, μ)

According to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), my is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 88 times in scientific texts, 30 times in news, 138 times in essays, 200 times in fiction, and 419 times in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 875 times, making it the 49th most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.^[1]

• my in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• my in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• Maria Renata Mayenowa; Stanisław Rospond; Witold Taszycki; Stefan Hrabec; Władysław Kuraszkiewicz (2010-2023), “my”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish]
• “MY”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century], 22 June 2021
• Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807–1814), “my”, in Słownik języka polskiego
• Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861), “my”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861
• J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1902), “my”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), volume 2, Warsaw, page 1081

my

1. obsolete form of mim

• ma, me

Inherited from Middle English mi, my, apocopated form of min, myn, from Old English mīn (“my, mine”), from Proto-West Germanic *mīn, from Proto-Germanic *mīnaz (“my, mine”, pron.) (possessive of *ek (“I”)), from Proto-Indo-European *méynos (“my; mine”).

my

1. my

   Synonym: mine

• “my, possess. pron.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 23 May 2024, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.
• “my, poss. adj.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 23 May 2024, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.

Inherited from Old Polish my.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɪ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪ
• Syllabification: my

my

1. first-person plural pronoun; we

   Coordinate term: (singular) jŏ

• my in silling.org

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *my, from Proto-Indo-European *nos.

• IPA^(key): /mi/, [ˈmi]
• Rhymes: -i

• Audio (Bratislava):

  (file)

my

1. we

• “my”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2026

my n

1. The Greek letter μ (mu)

From Proto-Slavic *my, from Proto-Indo-European *wéy.

my

1. we

• “my” in Soblex

From Old Frisian mī, from Proto-Germanic *miz.

• (Clay) IPA^(key): /mɛi̯/
• (Wood) IPA^(key): /mi/

my

1. object of ik