wee

• enPR: wē, IPA^(key): /wiː/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iː
• Homophones: oui, we, Wii; whee (wine–whine merger)

From Middle English wey, weygh, wegh, weȝe, wæȝe (“little bit”), from Old English wǣġ, wǣġe (“weight”), from Proto-West Germanic *wāgu, from Proto-Germanic *wēgō (“scales, weight”) and *wēgǭ (“weight”), related to Middle English weġan (“to move, weigh”) (15c).

wee (comparative weer, superlative weest)

1. (Scotland, Ireland, Northern England, New Zealand, Ottawa Valley, Mid-Ulster) Small, little.

   You looked a little cold, so I lit a wee fire.

   • 1907, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, page 275:

     The beat of its wee heart held against her own, sent her intense maternity surging like the spring sap in a young tree.

   • 2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published 2009, page 73:

     I had not seen a wee boy do it like that before. He was weer than me and his swimming was just like splashing about.

• wee folk
• Wee Free
• wee heavy
• wee hour
• wee hours
• wee small hour
• wee small hours

wee

1. A short time or short distance.

• Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary: Tenth Edition (1997)

Onomatopoeic for the sound of urination. The noun derives from the verb.

wee (countable and uncountable, plural wees)

1. (colloquial, uncountable) Urine.
2. (colloquial, countable) An act of urination.

   I need to have a wee.

• (all senses): wee-wee
• (urine): See Thesaurus:urine
• (urination): See Thesaurus:urination

wee (third-person singular simple present wees, present participle weeing, simple past and past participle weed)

1. (UK, colloquial) To urinate.

   I need to wee! I can't hold it any longer!

   • 2011 March 15, Tom Armstrong, Marvin (comic):

     When I was young, I was up every night until the wee hours. Now I'm up every hour at night to wee.

• wee-wee, see also Thesaurus:urinate

• see we

wee (personal pronoun)

1. obsolete emphatic of we
   • 1645, John Milton, Tetrachordon:

     Yet lest wee should be Capernaitans, as wee are told there that the flesh profiteth nothing, so wee are told heer, if we be not as deaf as adders, that this union of the flesh proceeds from the union of a fit help and solace.

• EWE, eew, Ewe, ewe

• IPA^(key): /ˈweː/ [ˈweː]
• Hyphenation: wee

wée (autobenefactive weyité)

1. (transitive) lack
2. (transitive) miss
3. (auxiliary) Used to form the negative of some moods and aspects.

• E. M. Parker, R. J. Hayward (1985) “wee”, 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)‎^[1], Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis)

From Old Dutch *wē, from Proto-West Germanic *wai, from Proto-Germanic *wai.

Compare Old English wā (English woe), Old High German wē (German weh), Old Norse vei.

• Audio:

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ʋeː/
• Rhymes: -eː

wee (not comparable)

1. nauseating

wee f (plural weeën, diminutive weetje n)

1. contraction during labour or childbirth

   De weeën beginnen!

   The contractions are starting!

2. (archaic) sorrow, sadness, pain, woe (used in interjections of despair or annoyance)

   O wee, wat zal er van ons worden.

   Oh woe, what shall become of us.

• (sorrow): o wee, ach en wee, heimwee

• Afrikaans: wee

• Ewe

wee (second person singular)

1. Alternative spelling of we (“you, thou”)

From Old Dutch *wē, from Proto-West Germanic *wai.

• IPA^(key): /weː/

wêe

1. woe!

• Dutch: wee

wêe

1. unpleasant, painful

This adjective needs an inflection-table template.

• Dutch: wee

wêe f

1. pain

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

• Dutch: wee
• Limburgish: wieë

• “wee”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “wee (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page I

wee

1. Alternative form of we (“woe”)

Inherited from Old English wēġ(e), wǣġ (unit of weight).

• IPA^(key): /wiː/

wee (comparative weer, superlative weest)

1. small, little, tiny

• “wee, n.1, adj., adv.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 24 May 2024, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.

From Middle English wiþ, from Old English wiþ.

• wie, wi, wi', w', wough

• IPA^(key): /wiː/, /w/, /wuː/
• Homophone: wye

wee

1. with
   • 1867, “THE WEDDEEN O BALLYMORE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 2, page 94:

     Wee aar lhaung vlealès an pikkès, to waaite apan a breede.

     With their long flails and picks, to wait upon the bride.

   • 1867, “THE WEDDEEN O BALLYMORE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 3, page 94:

     Aar was lhaung kaayle an nettles, ee-mixt wee prasaugh buee,

     There was long kale and nettles, mingled with yellow-weed,

   • 1867, “VERSES IN ANSWER TO THE WEDDEEN O BALLYMORE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 98:

     Tibbès an crockès wee drink war ee-felt.

     [Tubs and crocks were filled with drink.]

   • 1867, “VERSES IN ANSWER TO THE WEDDEEN O BALLYMORE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 2, page 100:

     Craneen t' thee wee aam, thee luggès shell aake.

     Choking to thee with them. Thy ears shall ache.

   • 1867, “VERSES IN ANSWER TO THE WEDDEEN O BALLYMORE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 3, page 100:

     Risheenearès! Leth aam gaame wee aar barish-amang,

     Snack-eaters! let them game, with their barley-mung.

wee

1. Alternative form of wough (“we”)
   • 1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 59:

     Note will wee dra aaght to-die?

     I don't know will we draw any to-day?

   • 1867, CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 114, lines 1-3:

     Wee, Vassalès o' 'His Most Gracious Majesty,' Wilyame ee Vourthe,

     We, the subjects of his Most Gracious Majesty, William IV.,

   • 1867, CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 114, lines 14-15:

     Mang ourzels——var wee dwytheth an Irelonde az ure generale haime——

     Unto ourselves——for we look on Ireland to be our common country——

   • 1867, CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 116, lines 8-9:

     wee hert ee zough o'ye colure o' pace na name o' Mulgrave.

     we heard the distant sound of the wings of the dove of peace, in the word Mulgrave.

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 77

Clipping of ìwé. Cognates with Yoruba èyí, Ìkálẹ̀ Yoruba ìyí

• IPA^(key): /wèé/

wèé

1. (Ijebu) this

• ìwé (“this”)
• ọ̀wọ̀nwé (“these”)
• wọ̀nwé (“this”)
• ọ̀wọ̀nyẹ̀n (“those”)
• wọ̀nyẹ̀n (“those”)
• ìyẹ̀n (“that”)
• yẹ̀n (“that”)