We

How to spell we

2 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce we

What does we mean?

1. pronounThe first-person plural pronoun, used by a speaker to refer to themselves together with one or more other people.

We in a sentence

• We booked the flights weeks before the holiday.

• After dinner we washed the dishes together.

Where does we come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is one of the oldest words in English, descending directly from the Old English we, the first-person plural pronoun meaning 'us together'. It traces back to the Proto-Germanic wiz, which is the source of related forms across the Germanic family, such as Dutch wij and German wir. Beyond Germanic, scholars connect it to the Proto-Indo-European root wei, a base used for the plural 'we', which also lies behind Sanskrit vayam meaning 'we'. The spelling has stayed remarkably stable for over a thousand years, partly because the word is so frequent and so short. Because it is plain and unchanging, the real trap is not its spelling but mixing it up with its sound-alike 'wee', meaning tiny.

How the word is built

• we (Old English we, first-person plural pronoun; no internal affixes)

Words that sound like we

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• wee: Very small in size or amount; tiny.