Elizabethan language
Thee and thou
Elizabethan language refers to the English spoken and written during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603), marked by features now archaic: *thee*, *thou*, *thy* for familiar second person; verb endings like *-eth* and *-est*; inverted syntax.
Shakespeare's plays exemplify the style.
The term often loosely covers any early modern English that sounds old-fashioned: The contract was written in Elizabethan language no one could understand.
- archaismObsolete but preserved phrasing
- euphuismAffected elegant style
- thouArchaic second-person pronoun
- theeSecond-person object, antiquated
- blank verseUnrhymed iambic pentameter
wherefore · hither · inversion · anon · whence · thy · courtly speech · good morrow · fair maiden · iambic pentameter · double negatives · forsooth · metaphor · theatrical traditions · soliloquy · etymology · Renaissance humanism · perchance
Elizabethan languagecolloquial speech
Informal everyday language
everyday language · conversational English · casual speech · informal speech · street language
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