they
/ˈðeɪ̯/pronoun, determiner, verb, noun
they is spelled T-H-E-Y. The wrong spelling people search most is tehy: about 170 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 19 of all searches for the word. They is a pronoun meaning “A group of entities previously mentioned”.
How many letters and syllables are in they?
| Letters | 4: T-H-E-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 3,162 times per million words; the 37th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 3; the most searched, tehy, about 170 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell they?
They is spelled T-H-E-Y. 3 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 14 of the searches for they in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is they?
They appears 3,162 times per million words in written English, the 37th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce they?
- US /ˈðeɪ̯/
- Australia [ˈðæ̝ɪ̯]
- /ðə/
They has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-they.ogg, En-us-they.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with they
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: thay.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with they?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as they from its last stressed vowel (/eɪ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: ythe.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of they
- them
- their
- theirs
- themselves
- themself singular
- dey
- thay
- theye
- thaay
- the
- theys present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- theying participle, present
- theyed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does they mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
pronoun
- 1
A group of entities previously mentioned.
Fred and Jane? They just arrived.
- 2
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.]
- 3
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.]
- 4
People; some people; people in general; someone, excluding the speaker.
They say it’s a good place to live.
- 5
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.
- 6
The opponents of the side which is keeping score.
- 7
USThere (especially as an expletive subject of be).
determiner
- 1
nonstandardThe, those.
They rooks as you see … only coom a few year agoo.
- 2
USTheir.
verb
- 1
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
- 1
derogatoryinformaloffensiveA non-binary person.
pronoun
- 1
Honorific alternative letter-case form of of they, sometimes used when referring to gods or other important figures who are understood from context.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
They in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | ils, elles, eux, iels, eusse |
| German | sie , sier , man |
| Portuguese | eles, elas , elu, ile, se |
| Spanish | ellos, ellas, elles , elle, se |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does they come from?
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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).