you

Meanings

Pronoun

• The people spoken, or written to, as an object.
• (To) yourselves, (to) yourself.
• The person spoken to or written to, as an object. (Replacing thee; originally as a mark of respect.)
• The people spoken to or written to, as a subject. (Replacing ye.)
• The person spoken to or written to, as a subject. (Originally as a mark of respect.)
• Anyone, one; an unspecified individual or group of individuals (as subject or object).

Verb

• To address (a person) using the pronoun you (in the past, especially to use you rather than thou, when you was considered more formal).

Related

Similar words

• thee , ye, to you, to thee, to ye
• ye, to you, to ye, to you all
• one, people, they, them

Origin

• , from Proto-Indo-European *yūs, *yū́.
• Cognate with Scots you, Saterland Frisian jou, West Frisian jo, Low German jo, joe and oe, Dutch jou and u, Middle High German eu, iu, Latin vōs, Avestan 𐬬𐬋, Ashkun iã, Kamkata-viri šo, Sanskrit यूयम्
• 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 archaic Swedish I.