the
/ðə/ (before consonants), /ði/ (before vowels)
definite article
Origin
Proto-Germanic
*sa- (masculine), *so (feminine), *þat (neuter) — that, the
Overview
Meaning Now
- Used to denote a specific person, thing, or group previously mentioned, clearly identified, or already known to the listener.
- Used to refer to a unique or singular entity in a given context (e.g., 'the sun').
Language path
Proto-Indo-European → Proto-Germanic → Old English → English
Earliest form
þe
Earliest period
Old English (circa 9th century)
Journey
In Old English, the definite article was highly inflected based on gender, case, and number. Middle English saw the loss of these inflectional endings, eventually collapsing into the single invariant form 'the' used today.
Evolution
- Proto-Germanic
*sa, *so, *þat
“demonstrative pronoun”
Original three-gender system for demonstratives.
- Old English
se, seo, þæt
“the; that”
Full inflectional system used for demonstratives and definite articles.
- Middle English
the, ye
“the”
The thorn (þ) character was replaced by 'th' digraphs.
Connections
Word parts
the
root
definite article
Related across languages
German
der, die, das
the
Dutch
de, het
the
Explore next
Related to the
External references use DefinedTerm semantics.