is

is

1. (international standards) ISO 639-1 language code for Icelandic.

From Middle English is, from Old English is, from Proto-West Germanic *ist, from Proto-Germanic *isti (a form of Proto-Germanic *wesaną (“to be”)), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti (“is”).

Cognate with West Frisian is (“is”), Dutch is (“is”), German ist (“is”), Afrikaans is (“am, are, is”) Old Swedish är, er, Old Norse er, es. Also, via Proto-Indo-European, Latin esse (“be”)

• (UK, US, Canada, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ɪz/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ɘz/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪz

is

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of be

   He is a doctor.

   • 1999 January 8, Ken Starr, quoting Bill Clinton, Referral from Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr in Conformity with the Requirements of Title 28, United States Code, Section 595(c) (Starr Report)‎, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, retrieved 14 February 2020, page 176:

     "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is."

   • 2012, Robert Moore, Where the Gold is Buried, a legend of Old Fort Niagara, →ISBN, page 137:

     "It's not two weeks yet," I reminded her, hoping that might somehow cheer her. […] "Tomorrow is two weeks," Ruth said in a distant voice, staring into the flames.

2. (now colloquial) Used in phrases with existential there (also here and where) when the semantic subject is plural.

   There is three of them there.

   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], page 141, column 2:

     Ber. There is five in the firſt ſhew, / Ken. You are deceiued, tis not so.

3. (dialectal) present indicative of be; am, are, is.
   • 2001, “Witness (1 Hope)”, in Run Come save me, performed by Roots Manuva:

     Let the whole world know we's on some off-key tip

   • 2012, Trae Macklin, Flippin' The Hustle:

     "Them niggas shot my girl, yo! And I ain't gonna sleep until all of them niggas is dead!" RJ hissed.

   • 2013, Tu-Shonda Whitaker, The Ex Factor, page 270:

     "Y'all is some disorganized niggahs," Mama Byrd said.

   • 2016, “Don't Hurt Yourself”, in Lemonade, performed by Beyoncé:

     Who the fuck do you think I is? / You ain't married to no average bitch, boy

   • 2022, “Plan B”, performed by Megan Thee Stallion:

     Nigga, yeah, you's a bitch

   • 2023, “Barbie World”, in Barbie: The Album, performed by Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice:

     Like Jazzie, Stacie, Nicki / All of the Barbies is pretty / All of the Barbies is bad

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:is.

• ees
• 's
• iz

• beeth (archaic)
• bes (now AAVE)

• as-is

Eye dialect spelling of us.

is

1. (Geordie) Alternative spelling of us (“me”).

i +‎ -s.

is

1. (rare) Alternative form of i's.

• S. I., S.I., SI, Si, Si., si

Related to Sidamo ise.

• IPA^(key): /ˈis/, [ˈʔɪs]

ís

1. she

• IPA^(key): /ˈis/, [ˈʔɪs]

ís

1. thyself, yourself
2. himself, herself
3. (Awash) myself

• E. M. Parker, R. J. Hayward (1985) “is”, in An Afar-English-French dictionary (with Grammatical Notes in English), University of London, →ISBN
• Mohamed Hassan Kamil (2015) L’afar: description grammaticale d’une langue couchitique (Djibouti, Erythrée et Ethiopie)‎, Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis)

• IPA^(key): /əs/

• Audio

  (file)

is

1. am, are, is (present tense, all persons, plural and singular of wees, to be)
2. Forms the perfect passive voice when followed by a past participle

is

1. woman

• Mark Donohue, Syntactic and Lexical Factors Conditioning the Diffusion of Sound Change, Oceanic Linguistics 44 (2005), page 428

• isch (South Bavarian, Tyrolean, South Tyrolean)

From Middle High German ist, from Old High German ist, from Proto-West Germanic *ist, from Proto-Germanic *isti.

• IPA^(key): /is/, /iːs/

is

1. third-person singular present indicative of sei

is

1. plural of i

is

1. (Sette Comuni) Alternative form of es (“it”)

• “is” in Martalar, Umberto Martello, Bellotto, Alfonso (1974) Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo

From Old Norse íss, from Proto-Germanic *īsą, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyH-.

• IPA^(key): /ˈiːˀs/, [ˈiˀs]
• Rhymes: -iːs
• Rhymes: -iːˀs

is c (singular definite isen, plural indefinite is)

1. (uncountable) ice (water in frozen form)
2. (uncountable) ice, ice cream (dessert, not necessarily containing cream)
3. (countable) ice, ice cream (ice dessert on a stick or in a wafer cone)

• IPA^(key): /ɪs/

• audio

  (file)

is

1. third-person singular present indicative of zijn; is, equals

   Twaalf min drie is negen — twelve minus three equals nine

is

1. (informal, dialect) Misspelling of 's.

• si

is

1. Romanization of 𐌹𐍃

Doublet of és (“and”).

• IPA^(key): [ˈiʃ]

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iʃ

is (not comparable) (clitic)

1. also, too, as well

   Synonyms: szintén, ugyancsak, úgyszintén, éppúgy, (formal; the others are relatively literary in style) szintúgy

   Én is szeretem a csokit. ― I, too, like chocolate (aside from other people).

   (Én) a csokit is szeretem. ― I also like chocolate (aside from other things).

2. even, up to, as much as, as long as

   Három óráig is tarthat a műtét ― The operation may even take three hours.

3. (after an interrogative word) again (used in a question to ask something one has forgotten)

   Hogy is hívják? ― What's that called, again?

4. sure enough, indeed

   Synonyms: tényleg, valóban, csakugyan

   Aznapra esőt mondtak, és el is kezdett esni. ― Rain had been predicted for that day and, sure enough, it was beginning to rain. (literally, “They had said rain for…”)

When it is used with a concessive adverb (“no matter what/​who​/​when/how”, “however [good, bad]”, “long as it was”, “even if…” etc.), it is traditionally placed after the verb, though it is common in colloquial style to use it after the adverb instead:

(traditionally, chiefly in literary style) Bármilyen hosszúra nyúlt is az előadás,…
(more recently) Bármilyen hosszúra is nyúlt az előadás,…

No matter how long the lecture​/​performance stretched,…

It applies to verb-final set phrases as well, similarly to érzi magát in this clause: még ha ettől rosszul érezzük is magunkat / …rosszul is érezzük magunkat (“even if it makes us feel bad”).

• egyaránt (“equally, alike”)

• is in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

Inherited from Old Irish os.

• IPA^(key): /ɪsˠ/, /sˠ/

is

1. reduced form of agus (“and; as”)

   Dia is Muire duit.

   Hello to you, too. (lit. God and Mary to you.)

   • 1899, Franz Nikolaus Finck, Die araner mundart, volume II (overall work in German), Marburg: Elwert’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 1:

     wil nə fatī xō mŭȧ, s dūŕc šē?

     [An bhfuil na fataí chomh maith is dúirt sé?]

     Are the potatoes as good as he said?

   • 1899, Franz Nikolaus Finck, Die araner mundart, volume II (overall work in German), Marburg: Elwert’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 1:

     ə ʒēĺǵə, l̄aurīr ə gūǵə mūn, ńī h-ønn̥̄ ī s ə ʒēlgə š agń̥ə

     [An Ghaeilge a labhraíthear i gCúige Mumhan, ní hionann í is an Ghaeilge seo againne.]

     The Irish used in Munster isn’t the same as our Irish.

From Old Irish is (“is”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- (“to be”).

• IPA^(key): /ɪsˠ/, /sˠ/ (before nouns and adjectives)
• IPA^(key): /ʃ/ (before the pronouns é, í, ea, iad)

is

1. Present/future realis copula form

   Is múinteoir é Dónall. ― Dónall is a teacher. (definition: predicate is indefinite)

   Is é Dónall an múinteoir. ― Dónall is the teacher. (identification: predicate is definite)

   Is féidir liom snámh. ― I can swim. (idiomatic noun predicate)

   Is maith liom tae. ― I like tea. (idiomatic adjective predicate)

   Is mise a chonaic é. ― I'm the one who saw him. (compare Hiberno-English "'Tis I who saw him"; cleft sentence)

   Is é Dónall atá ina mhúinteoir. ― It's Dónall who is a teacher. (cleft sentence)

2. Used to introduce the comparative/superlative form of adjectives

   an buachaill is mó ― the bigger boy; the biggest boy

   Is mó an buachaill ná Séamas.

   The boy is bigger than James.

   Is é Séamas an buachaill is mó in Éirinn!

   James is the biggest boy in Ireland! (lit. "It is James (who is) the boy (who) is biggest in Ireland")

• Used in the present and future for identification or definition of a subject as the person/object identified in the predicate of the sentence. Sometimes used with noun or adjective predicates, especially in certain fixed idiomatic phrases. Used to introduce cleft sentences, which are extremely common in Irish. It is not a verb.

• The copula does not exist in the imperative and does not have a nominal form analogous to the verbal noun. The phrase bí i do (literally “be in your”) is used as the imperative instead (e.g. Bí i d’fhear! – “Be a man!” (lit. “Be in your man!”)), and equivalent non-copular nominal constructions must be used in place of their hypothetical copular equivalents: bheith ábalta (“to be able”, in place of the non-existent nominal form of is féidir), bheith ag iarraidh (“to want”, in place of the non-existent nominal form of is mian), bheith ina (“to be”, as with the imperative), etc.

• In comparative/superlative formations, is is strictly speaking the relative of the copula, hence an buachaill is mó literally means "the boy who is biggest", i.e. "the biggest boy". The thing compared is introduced by ná (“than”).

is

1. woman

• Mark Donohue, Syntactic and Lexical Factors Conditioning the Diffusion of Sound Change, Oceanic Linguistics 44 (2005), page 428 (used in both Kwerba proper and Anggreso Kwerba)

From Proto-Mayan *iihs.

is

1. sweet potato

• Baer, Phillip, Baer, Mary, Chan Kꞌin, Manuel, Chan Kꞌin, Antonio (2018) Diccionaro maya lacandón (Serie de vocabularios y diccionarios indígenas “Mariano Silva y Aceves”; 51)‎ (in Spanish), Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, A.C., pages 65–66

From Proto-Italic *is, from Proto-Indo-European *éy. Cognate with Oscan 𐌉𐌆𐌉𐌊 (izik), Umbrian 𐌄𐌓𐌄 (ere), and further with Lithuanian jis, Proto-Slavic *jь.

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /is/, [ɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /is/, [is]

is (feminine ea, neuter id); demonstrative pronoun

1. (pronoun) this or that man, woman or thing; he, she, it, they (previously introduced)
   1. Picks up the subject or object after an intervening clause, to avoid repeating the relative pronoun quī, or substitutes syntactically fronted expressions
2. (correlative) that...which; he, she...who, it...that
   1. (anaphoric) of such a nature, degree, kind (previously mentioned or implied)
   2. (cataphoric) the following; of the following nature, degree, kind
3. (determiner) this or that [man, woman or thing] (as a noun phrase modifier)
4. (with genus with nominative or modī with genitive) such a, that sort of

   eiusmodī sermōnēs ― talk of that kind

   • Marcus Valerius Probus, Fragmenta 66.29:

     […] 'urbīs' an 'urbēs'. Nam cum id genus sīs, quod videō, ut sine iactūrā tuā peccēs, nihil perdēs utrum dīxeris.

     […] 'urbīs' or 'urbēs'. For as far as I can see, you're the kind of man who doesn't lose sleep over his mistakes; as such you'll lose nothing whichever one you use.

5. Substituting a clause.

   quod eius fierī possit ― as far as [any of that is] possible

   1. As an internal accusative: for that reason, on that account

      idque gaudeō ― and I'm glad about that

   2. Used in various prepositional phrases.

Latin is is an endophoric pronoun and determiner, which may be employed either as an anaphora or as a cataphora, meaning it serves as a reference to something preceding or following, respectively, in the text. Unlike a demonstrative such as ille or English this, is does not have a deictic function, meaning it cannot point to a referent in the world, but only one named in the text; nor can it be used exophorically as a 3d-person pronoun such as English (s)he that refers to something not already defined in the context but presumed to be known or deduceable by the addressee. Thus we see it used with first, second and third person.

The exophoric demonstratives/determiners in Latin are hic (proximal, near the speaker), iste (medial, near the listener), and ille (distal, far from both). Note that Latin doesn't have any 3rd-person pronouns, using the aforementioned demonstratives in their place.

Oblique cases are rare in elevated poetry.

Demonstrative pronoun.

¹The nom./dat./abl. plural forms regularly developed into a monosyllable /iː(s)/, with later remodelling - compare the etymology of deus. This /iː/ was normally spelled as EI during and as II after the Republic; a disyllabic iī, spelled II, Iꟾ, appears in Silver Age poetry, while disyllabic eīs is only post-Classical. Other spellings include EEI(S), EIEI(S), IEI(S).
²The dat. singular is found spelled EIEI (here represented as ēī) and scanned as two longs in Plautus, but also as a monosyllable. The latter is its normal scansion in Classical. Other spellings include EEI, IEI.

• idcircō
• īdem
• ideō

Inflected form of eō (“go”).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /iːs/, [iːs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /is/, [is]

īs

1. second-person singular present active indicative of eō

• is in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

is

1. third-person singular present indicative of wēsen

From Old English īs, from Proto-West Germanic *īs.

• ise, yes, yce, yys, ys, ijs, yse, ysz, hyse, hyys, ice, isse, ysse, yis

• IPA^(key): /iːs/

is (uncountable)

1. ice (frozen water):
   1. A layer of frozen water as a surface.
   2. (rare) An individual portion of ice.
2. (rare, figurative) That which is short-lived like ice.
3. (rare) icy conditions

• isykle
• Iseland

• English: ice (see there for further descendants)
• Scots: ice

• “īs, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-15.

From Old English is, third-person present singular of wesan (“to be”), from Proto-Germanic *isti, third-person present singular of *wesaną (“to be, become”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti.

• es, ys, us

• IPA^(key): /is/, /iz/

is

1. third-person singular present indicative of been

   Synonym: bith

This form is more common than bith for the third-person singular.

• English: is
• Scots: is
• Yola: is, ez

is

1. Alternative form of his (“his”)

is

1. Alternative form of his (“his”)

is

1. Alternative form of his (“her”)

is

1. Alternative form of his (“them”)

is (plural isnes)

1. Alternative form of iren (“iron”)

is

1. as if, as if it were true, it could be, is it really?, what do you mean by that?, so you say expressing surprise

Usually spelled with the final letter repeated: iss, isss, issss.

• as
• isdaʼ

From Old Norse íss (“ice”), from Proto-Germanic *īsaz, a variant of *īsą (“ice”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyH- (“ice, frost”).

is m (definite singular isen, indefinite plural is or iser, definite plural isene)

1. (uncountable) ice, ice cream
2. (countable) ice cream on a stick or cone.

• iskrem (ice cream)

• “is” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

• -is, si

From Old Norse íss, from Proto-Germanic *īsą, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyH-. Akin to English ice.

• IPA^(key): /iːs/

is m (definite singular isen, indefinite plural isar, definite plural isane)

1. ice
2. ice cream

• iskrem (ice cream)

• “is” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• isi, esi

From Proto-Tani *si, from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *si.

is

1. water

• P. T. Abraham (2005) A Grammar of Nyishi Language‎, Delhi: Farsight Publishers and Distributors

From Proto-Germanic *īsą. See there for more.

• IPA^(key): /iːs/

īs n

1. ice
   • the Legend of St Andrew

     Ofer ēastrēamas īs bryċġode.

     The ice formed a bridge over the streams.

2. the runic character ᛁ (/i/ or /i:/)

• īsċeald
• īsiġ
• īsearn

• Middle English: is, ise, yes, yce, yys, ys, ijs, yse, ysz, hyse, hyys, ice, isse, ysse, yis
  • English: ice (see there for further descendants)
  • Scots: ice

From Proto-West Germanic *ist, from Proto-Germanic *isti (a form of Proto-Germanic *wesaną (“to be”)), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti (“is”).

• ys
• ᛁᛋ (is) — Near Fakenham plaque

• IPA^(key): /is/

is

1. third-person singular present indicative of wesan

• Middle English: is
  • English: is
  • Scots: is
  • Yola: is, ez

From Proto-West Germanic *īs. Compare Old Saxon īs, Old English īs, Old Norse íss.

īs

1. ice

• Middle High German: īs
  • Alemannic German: Iis, Is, Isch

    Alsatian: Iis; Eis (northern)

    Italian Walser: isch, éisch

  • Bavarian: ais

    Cimbrian: ais

    Mòcheno: ais

  • Central Franconian: Eis, Ies

    Hunsrik: Eis

    Luxembourgish: Äis

    Transylvanian Saxon: Ais

  • German: Eis
  • Rhine Franconian:

    Frankfurt: [ais]

    Pennsylvania German: Eis

  • Vilamovian: ajs
  • Yiddish: אײַז (ayz)

• iss

The lemma is itself is from Proto-Celtic *esti, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti; other forms are from either *h₁es- or *bʰuH-.

is

1. to be

For quotations using this term, see Citations:is.

This is the so-called "copula", which is distinct from the "substantive verb" at·tá. The copula is used with noun predicates and to introduce a cleft sentence.

See Appendix:Old Irish conjugation of is for the complete conjugation.

• at·tá (substantive verb)

• Irish: is
• Manx: s’
• Scottish Gaelic: is

• G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “1 is”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Thurneysen, Rudolf (1940, reprinted 2017) D. A. Binchy and Osborn Bergin, transl., A Grammar of Old Irish, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, →ISBN, §§ 791–818, pages 483–94
• Pedersen, Holger (1913) Vergleichende Grammatik der keltischen Sprachen (in German), volume II, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, →ISBN, pages 419–431

From Proto-Germanic *it.

is (is)

1. his, its

is

1. third-person singular present indicative of wesan

From Proto-Germanic *īsą, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyH- (“ice, frost”). Cognate with Old Frisian īs (West Frisian iis), Old English īs (English ice), Dutch ijs, Old High German īs (German Eis), Old Norse íss (Danish and Swedish is).

īs n

1. ice
2. The runic character ᛁ (/i/ or /i:/)

• Middle Low German: îs
  • Low German:
    • German Low German: Ies
      • Plautdietsch: Iess

From Proto-Celtic *esti. Cognate to Old Irish is.

is (third person singular present)

1. to be

Listed exhaustively in the Etymological Glossary of Old Welsh are the following conjugated forms:[1]

• 3rd person singular present: is, iu, oi, hois, hoys
• 3rd person singular present relative: issi, issid
• 3rd person singular present negative: nit
• 3rd person plural present: hint, int
• 3rd person singular imperfect: hoid, oid
• 3rd person singular imperfect subjunctive: be
• 3rd person plural imperfect subjunctive: beinn
• 3rd person singular present habitual: bi, bid bit
• 3rd person singular present subjunctive: boi, boit
• 3rd person singular preterite: bu

• Welsh: bod (finite forms)

From Proto-North Iroquoian *iːts.

is

1. you

• Hanni Woodbury (2018) A Reference Grammar of the Onondaga Language, University of Toronto, page 309

• Rhymes: (Brazil) -is, (Portugal, Rio de Janeiro) -iʃ
• Hyphenation: is

is

1. plural of i
   • 2003, J. K. Rowling, Lia Wyler, Harry Potter e a Ordem da Fênix, Rocco, page 411:

     Se você pôs os pingos nos is e cortou os tês então pode fazer o que quiser!

     If you've dotted your I's and crossed your T's, then you can do whatever you want!

From syllabic apocope of issos, issas, from Latin ipsōs, ipsās, masculine and feminine accusative plural forms of ipse (“himself”).

• IPA^(key): /is/

is m pl or f pl (Campidanese)

1. plural of su: the (masculine plural definite article)
2. plural of sa: the (feminine plural definite article)

• Rubattu, Antoninu (2006) Dizionario universale della lingua di Sardegna, 2nd edition, Sassari: Edes
• Wagner, Max Leopold (1960–1964) “ísse”, in Dizionario etimologico sardo, Heidelberg

is (not comparable)

1. (South Scots) as

• es

is

1. (South Scots) as

• es

is (personal, non-emphatic)

1. (South Scots) me

• A
• mei (emphatic variant)

is

1. third-person singular simple present indicative form of be

• ir

• IPA^(key): /ɪs̪/
• IPA^(key): /ɪʃ/ (before a front vowel sound)
• Hyphenation: is

Cognate with Irish is.

is

1. Clipping of agus (“and”).

• Is is often shortened further to 's.

From Old Irish is. Cognate with Irish is and Manx s'.

is

1. (copulative) am, is, are

• Is is often shortened to 's.
• Is is used when linking the subject of a sentence with an object ("somebody is somebody", "somebody is something", "something is something"), otherwise forms of the verb bi are used:

  Is mise Dòmhnall. ― I am Donald.

  Tha mise anns an t-seòmar. ― I am in the room.

• Colin Mark (2003) “is”, in The Gaelic-English dictionary, London: Routledge, →ISBN, page 368

From Old Swedish is, from Old Norse íss, from Proto-Germanic *īsą, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyH-.

• IPA^(key): /iːs/, [iːs̪]

• audio (Gotland)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːs

is c

1. (uncountable) ice; frozen water.
2. (countable) ice; a sheet of ice lying on a body of water.

• is in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• is in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• is in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• is in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)

From English East.

is

1. East

From Proto-Turkic *ï̄ĺ(č) (“soot, dirty smoke”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈis/

is (definite accusative isi, plural isler)

1. soot
2. fume (solid deposit)
3. kohl

• islemek

is

1. here

• îs (obsolete)

From Middle Welsh is, from Proto-Celtic *ɸīssu (“under”), from Proto-Indo-European *pedsú, locative plural of *pṓds (“foot”). Cognate with Old Irish ís.

• IPA^(key): /iːs/
  • (South Wales, colloquial also) IPA^(key): /iːʃ/

is

1. comparative degree of isel: lower

is

1. lower than, under

• is- (“sub-”)
• (literary): islaw (“beneath”)