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Prithee don't screw your wit beyond the compass of good manners.
Colley Cibber

Meaning of "prithee" in the English dictionary

Dictionary
DICTIONARY
section

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD PRITHEE

Shortened from I pray thee.
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Etymology is the study of the origin of words and their changes in structure and significance.
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PRONUNCIATION OF PRITHEE

prithee  [ˈprɪðɪ] play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF PRITHEE

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Prithee is an exclamation.
Exclamation is an expression or voice that reflects an emotion or exaltation.

WHAT DOES PRITHEE MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Prithee

Prithee is an archaic English interjection formed from a corruption of the phrase pray thee, which was initially an exclamation of contempt used to indicate a subject's triviality. The earliest recorded appearance of the word prithee according to the Oxford English Dictionary was in 1577 and the last appearance was in 1875 while it is most commonly found in works from the seventeenth century. The contraction is a form of indirect request that has disappeared from the language. Prithee is the most widely known example of second person object enclitics. It is considered by linguists to have been the final step in the grammaticalisation of the verb pray. The eventual use of prithee outside the thee/thou usage signalled its transition into a discourse particle. There has been extensive scholarship investigating the difference in usage of prithee as opposed to pray you, both in terms of politeness and grammaticalisation. Because prithee eventually came to be used in the same context with the word you, it is considered to have developed into a monomorpheme.

Definition of prithee in the English dictionary

The definition of prithee in the dictionary is pray thee; please.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH PRITHEE


sithee
ˈsɪðɪ
smithy
ˈsmɪðɪ
stithy
ˈstɪðɪ
withy
ˈwɪðɪ

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE PRITHEE

priss
prissier
prissiest
prissily
prissiness
prissy
pristane
pristine
pristinely
Pritchett
prittle-prattle
priv.
privacy
Privacy Act
privado
Privatdocent
privatdozent
private
private bar
private bill

WORDS THAT END LIKE PRITHEE

aroint thee
banshee
chee-chee
coachee
couchee
debauchee
garnishee
geechee
ghee
hee-hee
lethee
lichee
lychee
Rhee
rushee
tee-hee
thee
towhee
trochee
whee

Synonyms and antonyms of prithee in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

Translation of «prithee» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF PRITHEE

Find out the translation of prithee to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of prithee from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «prithee» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

呆一会儿
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

ruego
570 millions of speakers

English

prithee
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

prithee
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

prithee
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

prithee
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

prithee
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

prithee
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

prithee
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Prithee
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

prithee
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

願わくは
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

돌아와
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Prithee
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

Prithee
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

வேண்டுகிறேன்
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

प्रिये
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

Prithee
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

prithee
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

prithee
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

prithee
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

Prithee
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

ικετεύω
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

prithee
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

prithee
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

prithee
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of prithee

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «PRITHEE»

The term «prithee» is regularly used and occupies the 96.920 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Regularly used
55
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «prithee» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of prithee
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «prithee».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «PRITHEE» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «prithee» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «prithee» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about prithee

EXAMPLES

QUOTES WITH «PRITHEE»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word prithee.
1
Colley Cibber
Prithee don't screw your wit beyond the compass of good manners.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «PRITHEE»

Discover the use of prithee in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to prithee and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Linguistic Variation in the Shakespeare Corpus: ...
7.6 Pray and prithee in terms of grammaticalization 7.6.1 Prithee in the context of you The analysis of pray and prithee in terms of politeness has revealed that their selection is partly determined by social rank and/or degree of intimacy between ...
Ulrich Busse, 2002
2
Ethnopragmatics: Understanding Discourse in Cultural Context
speech between the sixteenth and the nineteenth century. Some examples from the Oxford English Dictionary (with the date of original attestation]: [13] a. She has sent me to loch thee out; prithee. come away. (1590) b. Prithee, gently ofilcer ...
Cliff Goddard, 2006
3
Alternative Histories of English
Richard J. Watts, Peter Trudgill. prithee, while in the latter transcript she found twelve instances of prithee and only one of pray. Kryk-Kastovsky also points out that it is only the interrogator who usespray and prithee . This is not surprising since ...
Richard J. Watts, Peter Trudgill, 2002
4
A collection of treaties, engagements, and sunnuds, relating ...
Prithee Nidhee. of Satara, dated the 22nd April 1820. No. X. Prithee Nid- Terms fixed by Captain James Grant Sahib Bahadoor, on the part of tho Honourable Company, for fiao Sahib Mushfuk Meherban Purushratn Pundit Prithee Nidhee.
India. Foreign and Political Dept, 1864
5
Songs, Naval and National: Of the Late Charles Dibdin; with ...
See the crew, in flannel jerkins, Drinking, toping flip by firkins ; And as they raise the tip To their happy lip, On the deck is heard no other sound, But prithee, Jack, prithee, Dick, Prithee, §am, prithee, Tom, Let the can go round. Then, hark to the  ...
Charles Dibdin, Thomas Dibdin, 1841
6
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
Nay, I prithee now with most petitionary vehemence, tell me who it is. CELIA. O wonderful, wonderful, and most wonderful wonderful! and yet again wonderful, and after that, out of all whooping! ROSALIND. Good my complexion! dost thou think ...
William Shakespeare, 1996
7
William Shakespeare: The Complete Works
Nay, I prithee now with most petitionary vehemence, tell me who it is. CELIA. O wonderful, wonderful, and most wonderful wonderful! and yet again wonderful, and after that, out of all whooping! ROSALIND. Good my complexion! dost thou think ...
Cross, William Shakespeare, 1994
8
A Selection of Favourite Catches, Glees, Etc. as Sung at the ...
LIFE is checquer'd toil and pleasure, Fill up all' the various measure, See the Crew in flannel jerkins, Drinking, toping flip by firkins, And as they raise the tip To their happy lip, On the deck is heard no other sound, But-Prithee Jack, prithee Dick, ...
Harmonic Society (Bath, England), 1797
9
Edward FitzGerald, Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: A Critical Edition
A Hair, they say, divides the False and True- And upon what, prithee, does Life depend? XLVII I . Would you that spangle of Existence spend About THE SECRET — quick about it, Friend! A Hair perhaps divides the False and True — And upon ...
Omar Khayyam, Christopher Decker, 1997
10
Popular music of the olden time: a collection of ancient ...
Long time have I sighed and mourned, And still my love will not hear: O turn to me, my own dear heart, And I prithee, love, turn to me, For thou art the lad I long for, And, alas! what remedy 'P My lodging is on the cold ground, And very hard is  ...
William Chappell, George Alexander Macfarren, 1859

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «PRITHEE»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term prithee is used in the context of the following news items.
1
A couple of summer offerings
Prithee, somebody do something to amuse me, the universe is so strong, oh the ennui! Heaven forfend, dude --let's be a little bold-- you might ... «PJ Media, Jul 15»
2
The more voters get to know Shorten, the less they like him
by Prithee, Peace on Jun 29, 2015 at 10:17 pm. @bushby jane - Serious question Jane, what “nasty stuff” hasn't Dill not backed the LNP on? «Crikey, Jun 15»
3
Call Attribution Services Tell Businesses What's Making Their …
From whence comes all this phone calling, prithee, when Millenials and Gen-Xers seem so voice-averse, text-happy and quick to self-serve? «Channel Partners, Jun 15»
4
Make Something Up, The Water Knife and Girl at War
There are a couple of occasions where the author remixes his own catchphrase: “Prithee pay heed, the first-most rule regarding the monster is ... «The Register, May 15»
5
In-Fight Entertainment
... balance the suffocating fear of being lost in underground tunnels in the dark with lines like “Prithee pay heed, the first-most rule regarding the ... «Santa Fe Reporter, May 15»
6
13 Signs You Might Be A Highly Sensitive Person, Because Not All …
Please, I prithee, stop scraping your plate with your fork! Stop getting food on your mouth! Stop breathing on me! Stop the madness! «Bustle, May 15»
7
The Way We Were by John Taylor
And prithee a flagon of one's finest foaming mead – babe.” “Forsooth, kind sir, and no doubt a bowl of one's choicest porky scratchings too, ... «Milton Keynes Citizen, May 15»
8
Improving manners at the movies
Prithee wouldst thou extinguish it, or hie thee to the lobby? Gramercy, good sir/madam. 3. Hi. Your Bluetooth is on and it's bugging the ______ ... «Washington Post, May 15»
9
Russell Brand interviews Ed Miliband: exclusive transcript
Prithee, why shouldst the electorate expect you as prime minister to effect a total revolution in consciousness of a society anaesthetised into ... «Telegraph.co.uk, Apr 15»
10
Medieval Internship
He came running from the barley fields, all covered in manure, waving a smudgy note and shouting, “Hildebrand! Prithee look at ye letter! I hath ... «The New Yorker, Apr 15»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Prithee [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/prithee>. Apr 2024 ».
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