me meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

ME

symbolalso spelled ME

Astronomy, Natural sciences Earth mass: a unit of measurement, equal to the mass of planet Earth, which is 6×10²⁴ kg or 3×10⁻⁶ M_☉.

The mass of the Earth specifically.

Synonyms: M🜨, M♁

me

pron

CA, UK /miː/ · US /mi/

Etymology From Middle English me, from Old English mē (“me”, originally dative, but later also accusative, supplanting accusative mec), from Proto-West Germanic *miʀ, from Proto-Germanic *miz (“me”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁me- (“me”). Cognate with Scots me, North Frisian me, Saterland Frisian mie, Dutch me, mij, Low German mi, German mir (dative only), Icelandic mér (also still dative), Latin mē, Ancient Greek μέ (mé), ἐμέ (emé), Sanskrit मा (mā), all meaning “me”.

8 senses

1As the object (direct or indirect) of a verb.
2Myself; as a reflexive direct object of a verb.
3Myself; as a reflexive indirect object of a verb; the…
4As the object of a preposition.
5Used in isolation or apposition, or (sometimes…
6As the subject of a verb.
7As the subject of a verb. Sometimes used to indicate or…
8Would be the subject of a copula in standard English…

› The first-person singular, as the object (of…

First person, Pronoun As the object (direct or indirect) of a verb.

Can you hear me?
He gave me this.

1 more example

Shew me a token foꝛ good, that they which hate me may ſee it, and bee aſhamed: becauſe thou, Lord, haſt holpen me, and comfoꝛted me.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 86:17, signature Fff, verso, column 2:

Archaic, First person, Pronoun, Proscribed Myself; as a reflexive direct object of a verb.

And I awoke, and found me here.1819, John Keats, La Belle Dame sans Merci:

Colloquial, First person, Pronoun, Proscribed Myself; as a reflexive indirect object of a verb; the ethical dative.

When I get to college, I'm gonna get me a white Nissan Sentra.1993 April 23, Harper's Magazine:

First person, Pronoun As the object of a preposition.

Come with me.

First person, Pronoun Used in isolation or apposition, or (sometimes proscribed) as the complement of the copula (be).

Who's there? —Me. (or:) It's only me.
Who did this? —Me. I did it. (or:) It was me. I did it.)

2 more examples

Who said that? —(It was) not me.
It's either me or Jeremy Corbyn.2017, Theresa May, “Andrew Neil interviews Theresa May: full transcript”, in The Spectator, archived from the original on 22 May 2017:

› I, the first-person singular, as the subject.

First person, Informal, Nonstandard, Often, Pronoun, Proscribed, With a conjunction As the subject of a verb.

Me and my friends played a game.
[It was] literally all me and my astrophysicist colleagues could talk about.

2 more examples

Stella and me have opted to take a course called ‘Autobiography and Fiction’.
An employee was recently discussing her weekend on our Monday Zoom call (we go around the Zoom and share what we did over the weekend). She said, “Me and her went to the movies on Saturday night." I couldn’t contain it. I immediately responded with “X and I went to the movies on Saturday night, me and her never do anything, me can’t.”2025 June 14, Anna Holmes, “Wait, People Are Bringing Their Whole Family to Job Interviews?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

First person, Nonstandard, Pronoun, Proscribed, Not with a conjunction As the subject of a verb. Sometimes used to indicate or imitate limited English fluency.

One of them, whose sobriquet was Big-headed Blackboy, was stretched out before the fire, and no answer could be obtained from him, but a drawling repetition, in grunts of displeasure, of "Bel (not) me want to go.1844, Charles Wilkes, Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition, volume II:
Well he said me mustn’t eat ’nanas cause ’nanas would make me sick.1899 July 20, Mrs. A[lexander] J[effrey] McKelway [i.e., Lavinia Rutherford McKelway], “Children’s Department”, in A[lexander] J[effrey] McKelway, editor, Presbyterian Standard, volume XLI, number 28, Charlotte, N.C.: The Presbyterian Publishing Company, page 14, column 1:

1 more example

Whoa! That was about the coolest thing ever! Me gotta see that again.2005 October 10, Michael Chapman; Matthew Chapman, “Teen Girl Squad Issue #10”, in Homestar Runner, spoken by Strong Bad (Matthew Chapman):

First person, Nonstandard, Pronoun, Proscribed, In apposition Would be the subject of a copula in standard English, though the copula is omitted; used to indicate or imitate limited English fluency.

“I should stick to Tarzan,” he [Johnny Weissmuller] explains. “You see, I’m no actor. Well, I didn’t have to act in ‘Tarzan, the Ape Man’—just said, ‘Me Tarzan, you Jane.’ I'll never be able to act.”1932 June, Katherine Albert, “Hey! Hey! Here Comes Johnny”, in James R. Quirk, editor, Photoplay, volume XLII, number 1, Chicago, Ill.: Photoplay Publishing Company, page 119, column 2:
May opened the door, and a huge Indian walked into the room. “Me Bear Tracks,” he said. “Me hungry.”1954 February 3, Mrs. John F. Underhill, “The Last Leaf” (Chapter Three: Bear Tracks), in Lawrence Maxwell, editor, Junior Guide, volume 2, number 5, Washington, D.C., page 7, column 2:

Synonyms: I, my ass, us, my, mine
Derived terms: 75 terms
about me, address me, address me 🐘, after me the deluge, a little bird told me, a little birdie told me, arrest-me-red, arrest me red, arrest-me red, ask me anything, believe you me, cast-me-down, choke-me, come-and-cuddle-me, come at me, date-me doc, dip me in chocolate and throw me to the lesbians, don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining, don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining, don't tread on me, fellermelad, fight me, fixme, fool me once, for me, for me and not for thee, fuck me forewards, give me a break, gracious me, hear me out, hit me, Jack-jump-up-and-kiss-me, kiss-me-over-the-garden-gate, let this cup pass from me, little old me, look-at-me, look at me, make me, marry me chicken, me either, meet me at McDonald's, meet me at McDonald's haircut, me-firstism, meism, me-me generation, me-me-me generation, meness, meself, me-time, Mii, mini-me, new year, new me, put-me-up, readme, read-me file, rot me, silly me, slap my ass and call me Susan, stap me, stap me vitals, strike me blind, strike me lucky, strike me silly, sue me, that's all Greek to me, that's Greek to me, that's me told, that's news to me, thee and me, this is me, Tommy come tickle me, touch-me-not-ish, touch-me-not-ishness, trust me bro, try me, you had me at
Related terms: 57 terms
meseems, methinks, noli me tangere, Ime, myselfmemysen, mine, mymineme, we, us, ourselvesourselfoursen, oursourn, our, you, yourselfyoursen, yoursyourn, your, thou, thee, thyselftheeselfthysen, thine, thythine, youye, yourselves, you ally'all you guys yous, y'allselves, all yours y'all's you guys' your guys', all your y'all's your all's you guys' your guys', he, him, himselfhisselfhissen, hishisn, his, she, her, herselfhersen, hershern, ithit, itselfhitself, itshis, itshishits, they, them, themself, themselves, theirs, their, one, oneself, –, one's, themhem, 'em, themselvestheirsen, theirstheirn, The following table shows a list of English personal pronoun, including archaic and dialectal forms. Dialectal and obsolete, archaic forms are in italics. 1 See Appendix:English third-person singular pronouns for attested neopronoun.

me

noun

The self or personality of the speaker, especially their authentic self.

“Quite easily. Here you are taking care of a poor little boy with one arm, and there you are sinking a ship with the other. It can’t be like you.” “Ah, but which is me? I can’t be two mes, you know.” “No. Nobody can be two mes.” “Well, which me is me?” “Now I must think. There looks to be two.” “Yes. That’s the very point—You can’t be knowing the thing you don’t know, can you?” “No.” “Which me do you know?” “The kindest, goodest, best me in the world,” answered Diamond, clinging to North Wind. […] “Do you know the other me as well?” “No. I can’t. I shouldn’t like to.” “There it is. You don’t know the other me. You are sure of one of them?” “Yes.” “And you are sure there can’t be two mes?” “Yes.” “Then the me you don’t know must be the same as the me you do know—else there would be two mes?” “Yes.” “Then the other me you don’t know must be as kind as the me you do know?”1871, George MacDonald, “[At the Back of the North Wind] Out in the Storm”, in Harry Thurston Peck, Frank R[ichard] Stockton, Julian Hawthorne, editors, Masterpieces of the World’s Literature, Ancient and Modern: The Great Authors of the World with Their Master Productions, volume XIV, New York, N.Y.: American Literary Society, published 1899, pages 7514–7515:
The question seems unanswerable, because if those same atoms were to be collected as they leave my body as waste in the normal process of metabolism, and in a year when my body contained all new atoms, those old atoms which were me a year ago were reformed into an exact replica of me down to the last thought and cell, would there be two mes?1948 January, Rog Phillips [pseudonym; Roger Phillip Graham], “Hate”, in Amazing Stories, volume 22, number 1, Chicago, Ill.: Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, page 69, column 2:

1 more example

“In these last few days I keep feeling that I’m changing, changing into something I don’t quite recognize myself.” / “You’ve become more like yourself.” / “Could there be two mes?” / “Perhaps more than two.” / “It gets worse and worse. So which me do you actually love ?” / “All of them.” / “You’re being slippery.” Her lips curled slyly. “In fact you only love the me in your mind’s eye, and that me doesn’t exist, right?” / “No, that’s the combination of all the yous.” / She laughed. “It’s just as complicated as a mathematical calculation, if you end up with the three-headed, six-armed me, could you stand that?”1990, Bei Dao [pseudonym; Zhao Zhenkai], translated by Bonnie S. McDougall and Susette Ternent Cooke, Waves, New York, N.Y.: New Directions Publishing, →ISBN, page 158:

me

noun

Etymology From mi (“third note of a major scale”) + -e (“flat”), from Glover's solmization, Italian mi in the solmization of Guido of Arezzo, from the first syllable of Latin mīra in the lyrics of the scale-ascending hymn Ut queant laxis by Paulus Deacon.

Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music The solfeggio syllable used to indicate the flat of the third note of a major scale.

me

pron

Etymology From Middle English me, an unstressed phonetic reduction of men, man (pronouns; q. v.). Compare German man (“one, you”, indefinite pronoun).

Early, Modern, Obsolete Indefinite pronoun (usually singular); one; you; they; someone.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — authors: page histories for ME and me.