This entry is part of the phrasebook project, which presents criteria for inclusion based on utility, simplicity and commonness.
WOTD – 24 November 2016A “thank you” sign being held up at a conference in Taiwan in 2014
Etymology
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From Middle Englishthanke yow; as with thank God, praise be to God, and praise the Lord, it was originally a present subjunctive form but is usually not parsed that way in current usage. It has also sometimes been parsed as a prodrop form of (present indicative) I thank you, a mechanism that may plausibly coexist with the other one (instances being variable).
An expression of gratitude or politeness in response to something done or given.[from c. 1400]“Thank you!” said the girl after her mom gave her a gift.“And thank you for being so sweet,” replied her mom.
1711, attributed to John Fletcher, “Bonduca, a Tragedy”, in The Works of Mr. Francis Beaumont, and Mr. John Fletcher, volume IV, London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, at Shakespear's Head over-against Catherine-street in the Strand, →OCLC, act I, scene ii, page 2194:Jun[ius] […] The General has new Wine, new come over. / He muſt have new Acquaintance for it too, / For I will none, I thank ye. / Pet[ilus] None, I thank ye? / A short and touchy answer. None, I thank ye: / Ye do not scorn it, do ye?
1826 April 22, “G.”, “The Dukedom (from ‘The News of Literature and Fashion, Science and Art.’)”, in The Spirit of the Times; or, Essence of the Periodicals; Concentrating Every Week, All that is Worthy (as Strictly Regarding the Time) of Being Preserved, from the Whole of Our Newspapers, Magazines, &c., volume I, number XXIX, London: Printed by Milne, Banfield, and Duckworth [...] for J. Scott, →OCLC, page 436, column 1:I had some faint recollection of having a penny-piece in my waistcoat pocket, and, pleased with the service he had rendered to us, I gave it him as his guerdon. "Thank ye, sir—thank ye, sir—thank ye, sir," he cried, and immediately returned to his station near the footway.
1925 May 14, Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway, London: Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, →OCLC:"But, thank you, Lucy, oh, thank you," said Mrs. Dalloway, and thank you, thank you, she went on saying (sitting down on the sofa with her dress over her knees, her scissors, her silks), thank you, thank you, she went on saying in gratitude to her servants generally for helping her to be like this, to be what she wanted, gentle, generous-hearted.
1977 December 12, Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, “Thank You for the Music”, in ABBA: The Album, performed by ABBA:Thank you for the music, the songs I'm singing / Thanks for all the joy they're bringing / Who can live without it, I ask in all honesty / What would life be? / Without a song or a dance what are we? / So I say thank you for the music / For giving it to me
2002, Bill Boyd, “Striking a Deal”, in Stepdaddy: A Creative Memoir, Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, →ISBN, page 96:Thank ya, ma'am, thank ya, thank ya, thank ya. He's a good dog. He likes ever'body. He won' be no bother. Thank ya, ma'am, thank ya, thank ya.
2007, Jerry Goodwin, “Thank You”, in Thank You: One of Seventeen Rules …: Wonderful for Men and Women of All Ages, [Philadelphia, Pa.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 19:Always say "thank you." When in doubt, say "thank you." Say "thank you" even if you think it is not necessary in the circumstances. Whether the recipient thinks it is or is not, it will be appreciated and remembered. It is impossible to say "thank you" too often!
2014 February, Colin McEvoy, Lynn Olanoff, chapter 13, in Fatal Jealousy: The True Story of a Doomed Romance, a Singular Obsession, and a Quadruple Murder (St. Martin's True Crime Library), New York, N.Y.: St. Martin's Paperbacks, →ISBN, page 136:His return text came about an hour later. "I Love you … For all the right reasons," he wrote. "And I'm glad 2 know u feel the true love u have 4 me again … Thank u!! You make me feel like i really am superman!!"
2014, Roy Williams, Kingston 14, London; New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, →ISBN, act II, page 71:Adrian Shush. / Carl Thank yu. / Adrian Fer what? / Carl Fer staying. / Adrian Man tell mi to. Nuh thank mi. But you must shush.
(often with yes)Used as a polite affirmative to accept an offer.Near-synonym:please—May I help you? —Yes, thank you.—May I help you? —Thank you.
A polite dismissal; usually used in professional contexts.
2015, Amy Andrews, Limbo, Sydney, N.S.W.: Escape Publishing, →ISBN:‘No, come in,’ he said. ‘Martin, right? Have a seat.’ […] ‘Thank you, no, I won’t.’ He moved inside a little more.
Usage notes
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Can also be used in response to an offer not accepted, as if standing for no thank you. For example, someone offered a bowl full of strawberries after having already eaten a hearty meal might respond with I'm full, thank you.
Alternative forms
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thank u(eye dialect, chiefly Internet slang)
thank ya(slang)
thank ye(archaic)
sank you(non-native)
Synonyms
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cheers(informal)
much appreciated
gracias
gramercy(archaic)
much obliged
ta(Australia, Britain, New Zealand)
thank you very much
thanks, thanks a bunch(informal), thanks a lot, thanks a million(informal), thanks very much
Arabic: شُكْرًا(šukran) Hijazi Arabic: شُكْرًا(šukran), تِسْلَم(tislam), يِعْطيك العافية(yiʕṭīk al-ʕāfya) Juba Arabic: shukran Moroccan Arabic: شكرا(šukran), بارك الله فيك(bārak ellāh fīk), الله يبارك فيك(ellāh ybārik fīk)
Aramaic: ܬܘܕܝ(tawdi) Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܬܲܘܕܝܼ(tawdī), ܗܵܘܹܝܬ ܒܲܣܝܼܡܵܐ(hāwēt basīmā)(to a man), ܗܵܘܝܵܬܝ ܒܲܣܝܼܡܬܵܐ(hāwyāt basīmtā)(to a woman), ܗܵܘܝܼܬܘܿܢ ܒܲܣܝܼܡܹ̈ܐ(hāwīton basīmē)(to more than one person)
Circassian: West Circassian: тхьауегъэпсэу(tḥawujeğɛpsɛwu)
Comorian: Ngazidja Comorian: marahaɓa, asanta
Coptic: ϯϣⲉⲡϩⲙⲟⲧ(tišephmot)(from one speaker), ⲧⲉⲛϣⲉⲡϩⲙⲟⲧ(tenšephmot)(from more than one speaker)
Cornish: meur ras
Corsican: grazie
Cree: Plains Cree: kinanāskomitin
Crimean Tatar: sağ ol(informal), sağ oluñız(formal), teşekkür
Czech: děkuji (cs), děkuji vám, děkuji ti
Danish: tak (da)
Deori: churomde
Dhivehi: ޝުކުރިއްޔާ(šukuriyyā)
Dogrib: ması̀
Dutch: dank je (nl), (formal)dank u (nl), bedankt (nl)
Dzongkha: བཀའ་དྲིན་ཆེ(bka' drin che)
Elfdalian: tjär tokk fer
Erzya: сюкпря(śukpŕa)
Esperanto: dankon (eo), mi dankas
Estonian: aitäh (et), aitüma, tänan, täname
Faroese: takk, takk fyri, tøkk
Fijian: vinaka
Finnish: kiitos (fi)
Franco-Provençal: grant-marci
French: merci (fr), je vous remercie, merci bien (fr)(formally)
Frisian: West Frisian: tankewol, tanke
Fula: a jaraama
Ga: shidaa
Galician: grazas, beizóns, graciñas, Deus llo pague(literally “God bless you”)(dated)
Gamilaraay: maarubaa nginda
Georgian: მადლობა(madloba), გმადლობთ(gmadlobt)
German: danke (de), habe vielen Dank, haben Sie vielen Dank(formal), ich danke schön, ich danke sehr, ich sage Dank, danke schön (de), danke sehr, vielen Dank Alemannic German: danke, dankche, merci, fergälts Got, tank, vrattrus Got, wol vergelzgott Bavarian: danksche
Gilbertese: ko rabwa, kam rabwa(to several people)
Gothic: 𐌸𐌰𐌲𐌺𐍃(þagks)
Greek: ευχαριστώ (el)(efcharistó), να ’σαι καλά(na ’sai kalá), φχαριστώ (el)(fcharistó) Ancient Greek: εὐχαριστῶ(eukharistô)
Scottish Gaelic: tapadh leat(to one person, informal), tapadh leibh(to one person, formal; to more than one person), mòran taing, taing mhòr, gun robh math agad(Argyll; to one person, informal), gun robh math agaibh(Argyll; to one person, formal; to more than one person)
Ukrainian: дя́кую (uk)(djákuju)(from one speaker), дя́куємо(djákujemo)(from more than one speaker), спаси́бі (uk)(spasýbi)
Unami: wanìshi
Urdu: شُکْرِیَہ (ur)(śukriya), جَزاک اَللٰہ(jazāk allāh)(often used by Muslims), دَھنْیَہ واد(dhanya vād)(used by Hindus), جَزاک اَللٰہ خَیر(jazāk allāh xair)(often used by Muslims), نَوازِش(navāziś)(formal), مِہْرْبانی(mihrbānī)
Yoruba: ẹ ṣé(formal), ẹ ṣeun(formal), o ṣé(informal), o ṣeun(informal)
Yucatec Maya: níib óolal
Yup'ik: quyana
Zazaki: teşekur kenam
Zhuang: dwgrengz mwngz loz(literally “you worked hard”)
Zulu: ngiyabonga (zu)
Noun
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thank you (plural thank yous)
Alternative spelling of thank-you.
Further reading
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Jennifer Runner (14 August 2016), “‘Thank you’ in more than 465 languages”, in Jennifer's Language Pages – Greetings in More Than 3000 Languages[1], archived from the original on 21 October 2016.
(Hong Kong Cantonese, sometimes humorous) to thank; to be grateful to thank you你[Cantonese] ― feng1 kiu4 nei5 [Jyutping] ― thank you
2000, War of the Genders, spoken by Lok (Dayo Wong):thank you you啦，一於噉話，thank you thank you[Cantonese, trad.]thank you you啦，一于噉话，thank you thank you[Cantonese, simp.]feng1 kiu4-1 ju1 laa1, jat1 jyu1 gam2 waa6, feng1 kiu4 feng1 kiu4 [Jyutping]Thank you very much, that's how it'll be. Thanks, thanks.
2017, “Earth vely danger [Earth is very dangerous]”[2]performed by Dickson, TVMost:I am vely vely vely vely vely vely thank q you / Thank q you love my black skin shoes / I love your ball shoes too / […] / I am rely rely rely rely rely rely thank q you / Thank q you love my left door tooth / I love your wine 凹 tooI am extremely grateful to you / Thank you for loving my black leather shoes / I love your sneakers too / […] / I am really grateful to you / Thank you for loving my left incisor / I love your dimples too
2021, “I'm fine, thx”, Serrini (lyrics)[3]performed by Serrini:I'm fine thank橋 uI'm fine, thank you
