They
The most dangerous four-letter word. The stranger, the competitor, the enemy. To them, it is us. (see also We)
How We Say It
thay
Where It Comes From
Old Norse þeir — they. Replaced the Old English third-person plural pronoun in the 13th-14th centuries. The singular 'they' — used when gender is unknown or unspecified — has been documented in English since at least the 14th century, appearing in Chaucer.
How It's Been Used
The singular 'they' for non-binary individuals — presented as a modern invention — is actually a return to centuries of English usage. Its recent politicization is about identity recognition, not grammatical innovation. As a third-person plural, 'they' is the pronoun of otherness — whoever is not us.