English

us

/əs/
Me and at least one other person, excluding the person(s) being addressed. (exclusive us.)

    Etymology graph

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    Origin

    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”).

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englishus
      • inheritedOld Englishūs
        • inheritedProto-Germanic*uns “us”
          • derivedProto-Indo-European*n̥swé

    Related: Saterland Frisian uus, West Frisian us, Low German uns, Dutch ons, German uns, Danish os, Latin nōs

    Sources