Thank you is what you say when somebody does something for you. Two words, and one of the first phrases anybody learns in any language.
English uses it far more often than many languages, and leaving it out sounds genuinely rude to a British ear. Thanks is the informal version and cheers does the same job in Britain. It works as a noun too, so a thank you card and saying your thank yous are both standard. There is a fine use as a refusal, since no, thank you declines something politely and firmly.
1phrasethank youUsed to express gratitude.
“She said thank you and closed the door.”
Also accepted in games: thanks
Middle English
thanke yow
English, today
thank you
From Middle English thanke 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).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in News & Communication, A Man Called Ove
First appears in chapter 7 of A Man Called Ove.
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