Is

//ɘz// name, noun, pron, verb, slang

name, noun, pron, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative form of i's. alt-of, alternative, rare
  2. 2
    Initialism of International Sign. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
  3. 3
    plural of I form-of, plural
  4. 4
    Initialism of information system(s). abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
  5. 5
    Abbreviation of Islands (also Is.) abbreviation, alt-of
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    Initialism of international studies. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
  2. 7
    Initialism of implementation shortfall. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
Verb
  1. 1
    third-person singular simple present indicative of be form-of, indicative, present, singular, third-person

    "He is a doctor."

  2. 2
    Used in phrases with existential there (also here and where) when the semantic subject is plural. colloquial

    "There is three of them there."

  3. 3
    present indicative of be; am, are, is. dialectal, form-of, indicative, present

    "Let the whole world know we's on some off-key tip"

Pronoun
  1. 1
    Alternative spelling of us (“me”). Geordie, alt-of, alternative
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    Initialism of Islamic State. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
  2. 2
    Initialism of Interior Salish. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism

Synonyms

All synonyms
beethbesbesdaeshequalgestuno

Example

More examples

"Today is June 18th and it is Muiriel's birthday!"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English is, from Old English is, from Proto-West Germanic *ist, from Proto-Germanic *isti (a form of Proto-Germanic *wesaną (“to be”)), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti (“is”). Cognate with West Frisian is (“is”), Dutch is (“is”), German ist (“is”), Yiddish איז (iz, “is”), Afrikaans is (“am, are, is”) Old Swedish är, er, Old Norse er, es. Further cognates include, among others, Latin est, Ancient Greek ἐστί (estí), Sanskrit अस्ति (asti), Persian است (ast), Russian есть (jestʹ), all with the same meaning.

Etymology 2

Alternative pronunciation of us.

Etymology 3

From i + -s.

Related phrases

IS-Kas-isis-a

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.