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You

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you¹

  • /ju/ UK
  • /jɪ/ Northumbria
  • /jə/ Northumbria
  • /jə/ US
  • /jɪ/ Canada, Northwestern, US
  • /juː/ UK
  • /(j)iː/ Northumbria
  • /jʉ/ Northern Ireland, Scotland
  • /ju/ US
  • [jʉː] Canada
  • [jɪu̯] Canada
  • [jĭu] Northwestern, US
  • /jʉː/ Australia

Sounds like You, Yoo, yu, Yu, Yuu, yew, ewe, u, U (not in Wales), hew, hue, (h-dropping) Hugh · Rhymes with -uː

Where it comes from

From Middle English you, yow, ȝow (object case of ye), from Old English ēow (“you”, dative case of ġē), from Proto-West Germanic *iwwi (“you”, dative case of *jiʀ), from Proto-Germanic *iwwiz (“you”, dative case of *jīz), the Western form of Proto-Germanic *izwiz (“you”, dative case of *jūz), from Proto-Indo-European *yúHs (“you”, plural).

Cognate with Scots you (“you”), Saterland Frisian jou (“you”), West Frisian jo (“you”), Low German jo, joe and oe (“you”), Dutch jou and u (“you”), German euch (“you”), Middle High German eu, iu (“you”, object pronoun), Latin vōs (“you”), Avestan 𐬬𐬋 (vō, “you”), Ashkun yë̃ (“you”), Kamkata-viri šo (“you”), Sanskrit यूयम् (yūyám, “you”).

See usage notes. Ye, you and your are cognate with Dutch jij/je, jou, jouw; Low German ji, jo/ju, jug and German ihr, euch and euer respectively. Ye is also cognate with Danish I and archaic Swedish I. Compare the shift to the second-person singular informal Spanish vos, historically a formal pronoun.

pronoun your · yours · yourself · yourselves · ye · ya

  1. nominative, objective, plural, second person, singular The people spoken, or written to, as an object. Both of you should get ready now.
  2. US, colloquial, nominative, objective, plural, pronoun (To) yourselves, (to) yourself. If I may counsaile you, some day or two / Your Highnesse shall repose you at the Tower [...].
  3. nominative, objective, plural, second person, singular The person spoken to or written to, as an object. (Replacing thee; originally as a mark of respect.) I charge you, as ye woll have my love, that ye warne your kynnesmen that ye woll beare that day the slyve of golde uppon your helmet.
  4. nominative, objective, plural, pronoun, second person, singular The people spoken to or written to, as a subject. (Replacing ye.) You are all supposed to do as I tell you.
  5. nominative, objective, plural, pronoun, second person, singular The person spoken to or written to, as a subject. (Originally as a mark of respect.) You are right, Fanny, to protest against such an office, but you need not be afraid.
  6. colloquial, nominative, objective, plural, pronoun, second person A person's favorite sports team. I get that you're from Southeast Michigan, but I'm still surprised that you're a Detroit Lions fan. You have been on the receiving end of losing seasons for a while now.
  7. indefinite, nominative, objective, personal, plural, pronoun Anyone, one; an unspecified individual or group of individuals (as subject or object). The ascent is precipitous, but the path is cut into continual and short windings, which enable you to surmount the perpendicularity of the mountain.
  8. indefinite, nominative, objective, personal, plural, pronoun A dummy pronoun used in certain constructions, usually with verbs of receiving (such as get or find) or sensing (such as see or hear), typically stating the existence or typicality of something. You get a lot of rude people in London.

Similar: yer, plus the alternative forms and at Appendix:English personal pronouns, thee, ye, to you, to thee, to ye, to you all, thou, your ass, Your Maj, all y'all

determiner ye · ya · yah · yer · yeh · y'

  1. The individual or group spoken or written to. Have you gentlemen come to see the lady who fell backwards off a bus?
  2. Used before epithets, describing the person being addressed, for emphasis. You idiot!
  3. nonstandard Your. Tell me about ’e barber who shaved you hair so close,—was he kind to you?

verb yous · youing · youed · ye · ya

  1. transitive To address (a person) using the pronoun you (in the past, especially to use you rather than thou, when you was considered more formal). Youing consists in relating everything in the conversation to the person you wish to flatter, and introducing the word “you” into your speech as often as possible.

you²

noun yous · u

  1. The name of the Latin script letter U/u. ‘Eff. You. En,’ said Mr Banstead. ‘Fun![…]’

You³

Where it comes from

Capitalization of you.

pronoun

  1. honorific Honorific alternative letter-case form of you, sometimes used when referring to God or another important figure who is understood from context.you

You⁴

Where it comes from

From irregular, Wade–Giles, and Hanyu Pinyin romanizations of the Mandarin pronunciations of various Chinese characters, including 余, 于, 由 (yóu), 魚 /鱼 (yú) / 鱼 (yú), 漁 /渔 (yú), 渔 (yú), 楀 (yǔ), 俞, 喻, 兪, 於 /于, 遇 (yù), 虞 (yú), 郁 (yù), 尉, 禹 (yǔ), 游 (yóu), 尤 (yóu), 庾 (yǔ), 娛 /娱, 娱, 茹, 幽 (Yōu).

proper noun Yous

  1. countable A surname from Chinese
  2. countable, historical, uncountable A former prefecture of China.
  3. Chinese, countable, uncountable Synonym of Youzhou, one of the Nine Provinces of Chinese legend.

Similar: Yu

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