thee

Etymology 1

From Middle English þe, from Old English þē (“thee”, originally dative, but later also accusative), from Proto-Germanic *þiz (“thee”), from Proto-Indo-European *te (“second-person singular pronoun”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian die (“thee”), West Frisian dy (“thee”), German Low German di (“thee”), German dir (“thee”, dative pron.), Icelandic þér (“thee”). More at thou.

pron

1. (now chiefly archaic, literary) Objective and reflexive case of thou.
   Prince Henry: Did I ever call for thee to pay thy part? Falstaff: No; I'll give thee thy due, thou hast paid all there. 1598, William Shakespeare, Henry IV part 1, act 1, scene 2, lines 49–50
   Michael, this my behest have thou in charge, Take to thee from among the Cherubim Thy choice of flaming Warriours, least the Fiend 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost
   Come, O thou Traveller unknown, / Whom still I hold, but cannot see! / My company before is gone, / And I am left alone with Thee; / With Thee all night I mean to stay, / And wrestle till the break of day. 1742, “Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown”, Charles Wesley (music)
2. (now chiefly archaic, dialect) Thou.
   [H]e immediately perceived when I was taken ill, and, after seeing Mama, said to me "I am afraid Thee art not well thyself?" 1773, Frances Burney, Journals & Letters, Penguin 2001, page 23
   "What does thee want, father?" said Rachel. 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin

verb

1. (transitive) To address (a person) using the pronoun thee.
   What! doſt thou not believe that God's Thouing and theeing was and is ſound Speech? … And theeing & Thouing of one ſingle Perſon was the language of Chriſt Jeſus, and the Holy Prophets and Apoſtles both under the Diſpenſations of Law and Goſpel, … 1677, William Gibson, “An Answer to John Cheyney’s Pamphlet Entituled The Shibboleth of Quakerism”, in The Life of God, which is the Light and Salvation of Men, Exalted:[…], [London: s.n.], →OCLC, page 134
2. (intransitive) To use the word thee.
   The hardcore role-players will wake up one day feeling, like a dead weight on their chest, the strain of endless texting in Renaissance Faire English—yet dutifully go on theeing and thouing all the same. 2006, Julian Dibbell, chapter 5, in Play Money: Or, How I Quit My Day Job and Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot, New York, N.Y.: Basic Books
   You want to hear the word of God, and be challenged to go out and change the world. Instead, you are, for the fifth Sunday in a row, mewling on about purple-headed mountains (which is a bit of an imaginative stretch, since you live in East Anglia) and "theeing" and "thouing" all over the place. 2009, David R. Keeston [pseudonym; Alan D. Jenkins], “Seeing God in the Ordinary”, in The Hitch Hikers’ Guide to the Gospel, [Morrisville, N.C.]: Lulu.com, page 39

Etymology 2

From Middle English theen (“to increase, prosper, flourish”), from Old English þēon (“to thrive, prosper, flourish, grow”), from Proto-Germanic *þinhaną (“to thrive, succeed”), from Proto-Indo-European *tenk- (“to succeed, turn out well”). Cognate with Dutch gedijen (“to flourish, thrive, prosper, succeed”), German gedeihen (“to thrive”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌸𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌰𐌽 (gaþeihan, “to increase, thrive”).

verb

1. (intransitive, UK, obsolete) To thrive; prosper.

Etymology 3

From Pitman zee, which it is related to phonetically and graphically, and the sound it represents.

noun

1. The letter ⟨(⟩, which stands for the th sound /ð/ in Pitman shorthand.