Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • abbreviation incomplete
  • abbreviation Independent
  • abbreviation inside
  • abbreviation interstate
  • abbreviation isospin
  • The symbol for the Roman numeral 1.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The ninth letter of the English alphabet, called i and written in the Latin script.
  • noun The ordinal number ninth, derived from this letter of the English alphabet, called i and written in the Latin script.
  • noun The ninth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.
  • noun chemistry Symbol for iodine.
  • noun physics Isotopic spin.
  • noun Italy
  • noun physics, electronics Electrical current.
  • noun biochemistry IUPAC 1-letter abbreviation for isoleucine
  • noun cardinal number one.
  • abbreviation US, roadway interstate
  • pronoun The speaker or writer, referred to as the grammatical subject, of a sentence.
  • noun metaphysics The ego.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Abbreviation.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English I, ik (also ich), from Old English ih, ic ("I"), from Proto-Germanic *ik, *ek (“I”), from Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂ (“I”). Cognate with Scots I, ik, A ("I"), West Frisian ik ("I"), Dutch ik ("I"), Low German ik ("I"), German ich ("I"), Bavarian I ("I"), Danish jeg ("I"), Swedish jag ("I"), Icelandic ég, eg ("I"), Latin ego ("I"), Ancient Greek ἐγώ (ego), Russian я (ja, "I"), Lithuanian  ("I"). See also ich.

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Examples

  • I-- _I_ of course knew nothing about it; I only knew about the garden-party at Lady Margaret.

    The Invader A Novel

  • I-- _I_ got in under their nose while the big Mohammed was turned away without sight of his uncle, "bragged the little Imp." I am a clever boy, I.

    The Palace of Darkened Windows Mary Hastings Bradley

  • "It isn't -- I didn't -- you can't prove anything about me, Bert Bobbsey, and if you go around telling that I took your ice cream, I-- I---"

    The Bobbsey Twins at School Laura Lee Hope

  • In all my living, he argues, whether I sin or turn to God, whether I doubt or believe, whether I know or am ignorant, in all _I know that I am I_.

    The Approach to Philosophy Ralph Barton Perry 1916

  • "I-- _I_," she cried at length, her black eyes holding me as I stood, weak and faint, clinging unconsciously to the coffin for support.

    The Best Short Stories of 1919 and the Yearbook of the American Short Story Various 1915

  • Wasn't it necessary we should know it? Oh! "with a shudder of disgust," I wish I could make you understand how ashamed I feel -- how WICKED and ashamed I feel that I-- _I_ should have disgraced father's memory by ...

    Cap'n Warren's Wards Joseph Crosby Lincoln 1907

  • I felt as if it was the utter injustice of God that I-- _I_ -- had to be mixed up in it.

    The Belfry May Sinclair 1904

  • Till the stone is lifted, and the Brahmins come down singing the songs that I know, and feed me with warm milk, and take me to the light again, I-- I-- _I_, and no other, am the Warden of the King's Treasure!

    The Second Jungle Book Rudyard Kipling 1900

  • I-- I---- but there, seeing you have robbed me of what I thought was my legitimate fortune, don't try to rob me of my good name.

    "The Pomp of Yesterday" Joseph Hocking 1898

  • "I know it, but I-- I----" And then the young man, having tried to get to his feet, suddenly collapsed and became unconscious again.

    The Rover Boys in Business Or, The search for the missing bonds Edward Stratemeyer 1896

Comments

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  • Whatever algorithm selects the examples seems to favour repetition: I'm seeing lots of 'I--I' and even a little 'I--I--I'.

    November 18, 2009

  • Boy

    January 2, 2010