# us

> English word · Pronoun · IPA /əs/ · frequency rank #95

## Definitions
1. Me and at least one other person, excluding the person(s) being addressed. (exclusive us.)
2. Me and at least one other person, including the person(s) being addressed. (inclusive us.)
3. We, used in the same circumstances where "me" would be used instead of "I", e.g. for the pronoun in isolation or as the complement of the copula
4. Any entity that the speaker is a part of or identifies with, such as place of employment or education, nation, region, language, etc.
5. People in general.
6. The person(s) being addressed.
7. Used to imply connection between the speaker's experiences or activities and a group of listeners.
8. Me.
9. Me (in all contexts).

## Etymology
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *n̥smé
Proto-Germanic *uns
Old English ūs
Middle English us
English us
From Middle English us, from Old English ūs (“us”, dative personal pronoun), from Proto-West Germanic *uns, from Proto-Germanic *uns (“us”), from Proto-Indo-European *n̥swé, alteration of *n̥smé (“us”). The compensatory lengthening was lost in Middle English due to the word being unstressed when used. Cognate with Saterland Frisian uus (“us”), West Frisian us, ús (“us”), Low German uns, us (“us”), Dutch ons (“us”), German uns (“us”), Danish os (“us”), Latin nōs (“we, us”).

## Easily confused with
- **UT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/us-vs-ut)
- **UV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/us-vs-uv)
- **UW** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/us-vs-uw)
- **UU** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/us-vs-uu)
- **use** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/us-vs-use)
- **USA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/us-vs-usa)
- **USB** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/us-vs-usb)
- **USD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/us-vs-usd)
- **USC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/us-vs-usc)
- **UTC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/us-vs-utc)
- **USS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/us-vs-uss)
- **UST** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/us-vs-ust)
- **UVA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/us-vs-uva)
- **ute** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/us-vs-ute)
- **utd** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/us-vs-utd)
- **uzi** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/us-vs-uzi)
- **USP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/us-vs-usp)
- **USO** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/us-vs-uso)
- **USF** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/us-vs-usf)
- **uta** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/us-vs-uta)

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/us