English

my

/maɪ/
Belonging to me.

    Etymology graph

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    Origin

    Etymology 1

    From Middle English mi, my, apocopated form of min, myn, from Old English mīn (“my, mine”), from Proto-West Germanic *mīn, from Proto-Germanic *mīnaz (“my, mine”, pron.) (possessive of *ek (“I”)), from Proto-Indo-European *méynos (“my; mine”).

    Cognate with West Frisian myn (“my”), Afrikaans my (“my”), Dutch mijn (“my”), German mein (“my”), Swedish min (“my”). More at me.

    Etymology 2

    An abbreviation of an oath such as my word or my God.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englishmi “third degree or note of Guido of Arezzo's hexachordal scales”
      • inheritedOld Englishmīn “my, mine”
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*mīn
          • inheritedProto-Germanic*mīnaz “my, mine”
            • inheritedProto-Indo-European*méynos “my; mine”

    Related: West Frisian myn, Afrikaans my, Dutch mijn, German mein, Swedish min

    Words built on it: a, myself

    Sources