thou

play

pronoun \ ˈt͟hau̇ \

Definition of thou

archaic

:the one addressed

thou shalt have no other gods before me
—Exodus 20:3 (King James Version)

—used especially in ecclesiastical or literary language and by Friends as the universal form of address to one person — compare thee, thine, thy, ye, you

See thou defined for English-language learners

See thou defined for kids

Origin and Etymology of thou

Middle English, from Old English thū; akin to Old High German dū thou, Latin tu, Greek sy

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: before 12th century

See Words from the same year

thou

verb

Definition of thou

transitive verb

:to address as thou

First Known Use of thou

15th century

thou

play

noun \ ˈthau̇ \

Definition of thou

plural thou

:a thousand of something (such as dollars)

paid 25 thou for the car

See thou defined for English-language learners

Examples of thou in a Sentence

She earns more than a hundred thou a year.

Recent Examples of thou from the Web

There, ’mid the symbols that proclaim thy crimes, Dwell thou, a warning to the coming times.

— annika neklason, The Atlantic, "Poem of the Week," 18 Aug. 2017
One of these longstanding rules is: thou shalt wear a shirt under a suit.

— max berlinger, GQ, "Nick Jonas Joined the Shirtless Blazer Club," 17 Aug. 2017
For example, employees who take a moral stand when others do not are often viewed as holier than thou.

— david m. mayer, Fortune, "Merck’s Ken Frazier Just Gave Other CEOs a Blueprint for Standing Up to Trump," 14 Aug. 2017
Imagine a bolt-on fiberglass kit that turns a modern Camaro into an inexact facsimile of a Wraith for 75 thou, car included.

— davey g. johnson, Car and Driver, "The Spirit of ’76: The Custom Cloud Was an Ersatz Rolls-Royce Out of Florida," 4 July 2017
Thou shalt not drive a golf cart onto a perfectly manicured golf green because man, those wheels can really mess up the grass and the way the ball rolls for putts.

— lisa gutierrez, kansascity.com, "Trump commits a cardinal sin of golf, but hey, he does own the course," 23 June 2017
U2 have never entirely let go of their fixation – even Achtung Baby, the Berlin-and Dublin-made the 1991 masterpiece that did its best to explode the band’s holier-than-thou earnestness took cues from 24/7 American media immersion.

— dan deluca, Philly.com, "U2's 'Joshua Tree' was born into Ronald Reagan's America. Does it speak to Donald Trump's?," 15 June 2017
Thou shall not kill, except for votes in swing states.

— evan hill, The Atlantic, "The Dangers of Arming Autocrats," 13 June 2017
As the nation learned Thursday that President Trump intends to pull the US out of the Paris climate accord, California was still fighting the move in its typical alternative-energy, greener-than-thou fashion.

— patrick may, The Mercury News, "Trump pulls out of climate accord – and California pushes back," 1 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'thou.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.