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þe

Archaic Terms
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

An archaic middle/early English spelling using the thorn character (þ) to represent "the," common in ancient manuscripts and historic verse.

Detailed Definition
This is the Old/Middle English letter thorn, used here for the definite article "the." It is a historical spelling feature rather than a modern word, so readers unfamiliar with medieval texts may need help recognizing it.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Groweþ sedand bloweþ medand springþ þe wde nu” — Middle English; “þe” uses thorn (þ), a letter representing the “th” sound, and means “the”; Read “þe wde” as “the wood”; Preserving thorn in a quotation shows how medieval English looked and sounded
Additional Notes
The character "þ" is an archaic letter form that modern readers may not recognize in the evidence line.; Found in the poem, Sumer is icumen in by W. de Wycombe
Also Known As
the ye thou
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