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i

Used by a speaker to refer to himself or herself. / The ninth letter of the English alphabet. / In mathematics, the imaginary unit, defined as the square root of -1.
Pronoun[C/U] Both

Countable when referring to the letter as a character in a word ('There are two i's in 'million'). Uncountable when referring to the mathematical imaginary unit used in complex numbers.

💬Casual Conversation

🎬Tuesday afternoon, Victoria is in a high-stakes board meeting while Mr. Sterling is at his private yoga retreat.
Mr. Sterling

Victoria, I've decided that 'I' is too selfish a letter for our brand. Let's scrap it.

Mr. Sterling
Victoria
Victoria

We can't just drop every vowel, sir. You're totally out to lunch.

💡
Mr. Sterling is applying his eccentric philosophy to the company's branding by attacking a single letter ('i'). Victoria uses the idiom 'out to lunch', meaning he is delusional or disconnected from reality.

Meanings

Pronoun

Used by a speaker to refer to himself or herself.

I am going to the store.

Noun

The ninth letter of the English alphabet.

The word 'kite' starts with a k and contains an i.

Noun

In mathematics, the imaginary unit, defined as the square root of -1.

The solution to x^2 + 1 = 0 is expressed using i.

Etymology

Derived from the Old English ic, which evolved from the Proto-Germanic ek and the Proto-Indo-European egō. The shift from ic to i occurred over centuries as the final consonant was dropped and the vowel shifted to reflect the phonetic changes of Middle English.

Related Words

Last Updated: May 2026Report an Error