“They’ve” is a form of
they
/ˈðeɪ̯/ pronoun, determiner, verb, noun
Forms them their theirs themselves themself theys theying theyed dey thay theye thaay the
- pronoun (the third-person plural nominative) A group of entities previously mentioned. “Fred and Jane? They just arrived.”
- pronoun One whose gender is unknown, irrelevant, or both. “Somebody requested a seat at Friday's performance but didn't say if they preferred the balcony or the floor. [The gender is unknown and irrelevant.]”
- pronoun One who is nonbinary. “There is no need to panic. Robin should be here soon and they will know what to do. [Robin is nonbinary and uses singular they.]”
- pronoun (indefinite pronoun, vague meaning) People; some people; people in general; someone, excluding the speaker. “They say it’s a good place to live.”
- pronoun (indefinite pronoun) The authorities, the (power) elites, the powers that be, the establishment, the man, the system: government, police, employers, etc. “They'll tax us for the air we breathe next.”
- pronoun (bridge) The opponents of the side which is keeping score.
- determiner (now Southern England dialect or nonstandard) The, those.
- determiner (US dialects, including African-American Vernacular) Their.
- verb (transitive) To refer to (someone, sometimes especially someone who does not use gender-neutral pronouns) using they/them pronouns. “I have a pin that says she/her, but I still get theyed all the time.”
- noun (informal, sometimes derogatory, sometimes offensive) A non-binary person.
- pronoun (US dialectal) There (especially as an expletive subject of be).
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English þei, borrowed in the 1200s from Old Norse þeir, plural of the demonstrative sá which acted as a plural pronoun. Displaced native Middle English he from Old English hīe — which vowel changes had left indistinct from he (“he”) — by the 1400s, being readily incorporated alongside native words beginning with the same sound (the, that, this). Used as a singular pronoun since 1300, e.g. in the 1325 Cursor Mundi.
The Norse term (whence also Icelandic þeir (“they”), Faroese teir (“they”), Danish de (“they”), Swedish de (“they”), Norwegian Nynorsk dei (“they”)) is from Proto-Germanic *þai (“those”) (from Proto-Indo-European *to- (“that”)), whence also Old English þā (“those”) (whence obsolete English tho), Scots thae, thai, thay (“they; those”), Swabian dia (“they”).
The origin of the determiner they (“the, those”) is unclear. The OED, English Dialect Dictionary and Middle English Dictionary define it and its Middle English predecessor thei as a demonstrative determiner or adjective meaning “those” or “the”. This could be a continuation of the use of the English pronoun they's Old Norse etymon þeir as a demonstrative meaning “those”, but the OED and EDD say it is limited to southern, especially southwestern, England, specifically outside the region of Norse contact.
From earlier the'e, from there.
Webster’s 1913
- pronoun The plural of he, she, or it. They is never used adjectively, but always as a pronoun proper, and sometimes refers to persons without an antecedent expressed.
Etymology [Icel. þeir they, properly nom. pl. masc. of sa, su, þat, a demonstrative pronoun, akin to the English definite article, AS. se, seó, edhæt, nom. pl. edha. See That.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “they”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details