English

you

/ju/
The people spoken, or written to, as an object.

    Etymology graph

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    Origin

    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.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englishyow
      • inheritedOld Englishēow “Wo!, Alas!”
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*iwwiz
          • inheritedProto-Germanic*izwiz “you”
            • derivedProto-Indo-European*yúHs “you”

    Related: Scots you, Saterland Frisian jou, West Frisian jo, Low German jo, Dutch jou, German euch, Middle High German eu, Latin vōs, Avestan 𐬬𐬋, Ashkun yë̃, Kamkata-viri šo, Sanskrit यूयम्, Dutch jij, Low German ji, German ihr, Danish I, Swedish I

    Words built on it: you&, you-know-who, eat-all-you-can

    Sources