I

A1 Topic:Grammar & Function Words

US /aɪ/ UK [aɪ] See IPA manual

Homophones

ay /aɪ/ aye /aɪ/ eye /ˈaɪ/

Freq #2

Meanings

1

pron
The word a speaker or writer uses to refer to themselves as the subject of a sentence.

I drove my sister to school this morning.
2

noun
The ninth letter of the English alphabet.

The word "ship" has an i in the middle.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

ahchichm'assmuggins

Word family

Forms i's

Derived forms i'si-novel

Related forms he herherselfhersenhershernhimhimselfhisselfhissenhishishisnimeithititselfhitselfitshis

Appears in

Idioms (2)

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Tongue twisters (1)

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Betty Botter
Betty Botter bought some butter. “But,” she said, “this butter’s bitter; If I put it in my batter, It will make my batter bitter; But a bit of better butter Will but make my batter better.” So she bought a bit of butter Better than the bitter butter, And made her bitter batter better. So it was better Betty Botter Bought a bit of better butter.

Compare the vowels in bit, better, batter and butter while keeping /b/ steady. Use your normal accent for the middle consonant of Betty, ...

Etymology

From Middle English a, hi, hich, hij, I, ic, ich, ichc, ichs, ick, ig, ih, ik, j, jch, y, from Old English ic, ich, ih, ᛁᚳ (ic), ᛁᚴ (ik, “I”), from Proto-West Germanic *ik (“I”), from Proto-Germanic *ek, *eka, *ik (“I”), from Proto-Indo-European *eǵh₂óm (“I”). Cognates Cognate with Scots A, I, Ik (“I”), Yola Ich (“I”), North Frisian ick, ik, 'k (“I”), Saterland Frisian iek (“I”), West Frisian ik (“I”), Alemannic German i, ich, ig (“I”), Bavarian and Mòcheno i (“I”), Central Franconian eich, ich (“I”), Cimbrian i, ich (“I”), Dutch ick, ik, ikke (“I”), Low German eck, ick, ik, öck (“I”), German…

a Middle English ic Old English *ik Proto-West Germanic *ek Proto-Germanic *eǵh₂óm Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Grammar & Function Words

External links

# I

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A1
**Part of speech:** pron, noun
**IPA (US):** /aɪ/
**IPA (UK):** [aɪ]
**Frequency rank:** 2

## Meanings
1. The word a speaker or writer uses to refer to themselves as the subject of a sentence.
2. The ninth letter of the English alphabet.

## Examples
- I drove my sister to school this morning.
- The word "ship" has an i in the middle.

## Synonyms
- ah
- ch
- ich
- m'ass
- muggins

## Derived Forms
- i's
- i-novel

## Related Forms
- he
- her
- herselfhersen
- hershern
- him
- himselfhisselfhissen
- his
- hishisn
- ime
- ithit
- itselfhitself
- itshis

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: a
- Root: ic
- Root: *ik
- Root: *ek
- Root: *eǵh₂óm

## Etymology
From Middle English a, hi, hich, hij, I, ic, ich, ichc, ichs, ick, ig, ih, ik, j, jch, y, from Old English ic, ich, ih, ᛁᚳ (ic), ᛁᚴ (ik, “I”), from Proto-West Germanic *ik (“I”), from Proto-Germanic *ek, *eka, *ik (“I”), from Proto-Indo-European *eǵh₂óm (“I”). Cognates Cognate with Scots A, I, Ik (“I”), Yola Ich (“I”), North Frisian ick, ik, 'k (“I”), Saterland Frisian iek (“I”), West Frisian ik (“I”), Alemannic German i, ich, ig (“I”), Bavarian and Mòcheno i (“I”), Central Franconian eich, ich (“I”), Cimbrian i, ich (“I”), Dutch ick, ik, ikke (“I”), Low German eck, ick, ik, öck (“I”), German…

## AI Etymology
I comes from Middle English a, hi, hich, hij, I, ic, ich, ichc, ichs, ick, ig, ih, ik, j, jch, y, from Old English ic, ich, ih, ᛁᚳ (ic), ᛁᚴ (ik, “I”), from Proto-West Germanic *ik (“I”), from Proto-Germanic *ek, *eka, *ik (“I”), from Proto-Indo-European *eǵh₂óm (“I”). In current use, the main senses are “The word a speaker or writer uses to refer to themselves as the subject of a sentence” and “The ninth letter of the English alphabet”.

## Topics
- Grammar & Function Words

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