Etymograph

English

the

The comes from Old English þē ‘the, that’, a late variant of sē with þ- from Proto-Germanic *þa, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tód.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tód1reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þa1reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150þē1‘the’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500þe1
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1611the1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English the
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tódWiktionary, English thereconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þaWiktionary, English thereconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150þēWiktionary, English the‘the’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500þeWiktionary, English the
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1611theWiktionary, English the. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the…”

The story

Originally neutral nominative, in Middle English it superseded all previous Old English nominative forms (sē m, sēo f, þæt n, þā pl); sē is from Proto-West Germanic *siz, from Proto-Germanic *sa, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *só.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with the, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Middle English þe

Explore everything descended from *tód →

Another origin of the

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150þē̆
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500the
  3. Englishtodaythe

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Today it means

article ...because it has already been mentioned, is to be completely specified in the same sentence, or very shortly thereafter.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “the”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *tód / the