you

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English you, also yow,^[2][3] inherited from Old English ēow, the dative and accusative plural of the second-person pronoun, whose nominative was gē, modern ye.^{[4][3][5][6][7]} It comes from Proto-West Germanic *iwwiz,^[8][6] and is cognate with Old Frisian iuwe, Old Saxon iu, Dutch u, Old High German iu, accusative iuwih, and German euch.^[3][6][4][8] Hoad sets beside it a parallel form in Old Norse yðr,^[6][3] and the OED explains the double w of the West Germanic forms as an assimilation of the consonant group seen in this Norse form.^[9] Etymonline, Ayto and Hoad trace the stem to Proto-Indo-European *yu, also the source of Lithuanian jūs (“you”),^[4][8][6] while the OED connects the oblique form with Indo-European forms such as Latin vōs and Welsh chwi, but notes that the relationships are very hard to trace in detail.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

As object, to or for two or more people being addressed: Old English ēow, recorded about 725 in Beowulf,^[3] with some of the OED's first quotations from King Alfred's translation of Gregory's Pastoral Care.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Two changes made you the only second-person pronoun of standard English.^[9] First, it came to be used as a subject in place of ye: the OED records this from about 1316, and Barnhart says that you had generally replaced ye before 1700.^[9][3] The pronunciations of the two had been merging since the 14th century, and the distinction was out of general use by 1600, though Abbott noted that it was still observed in the Bible.^[4] Second, from the late 13th century you was used to one person as a mark of respect,^[9][3] at first to a superior and later to equals,^[3][6] which Etymonline attributes to the example of French vous;^[4] by about 1575 it was the general form of address, and thou was left to solemn language.^[4][10] Weekley called this loss of thou peculiar to English.^[11] Johnson (1755) wrote that you as a nominative was "first introduced by corruption" but "is now established", and called it "the ceremonial word for the second person singular".^[10] From the late 16th century it was also an indefinite pronoun, "one, anyone",^[6] a use Johnson compared to on.^[10] The filler you know is from 1712.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 725 – ēow, you, as object of a verb, in Beowulf.^[3]
• before 1275 – said to one person, as a mark of respect.^[9]
• c. 1316 – used as subject, in place of ye.^[9]
• before 1325 – the form yow, in the Cursor Mundi.^[3]
• 1564 – verb, to address someone as you rather than thou.^[9][12]
• c. 1570 – in address, before a noun.^[9]
• c. 1575 – the general form of address to one person.^[4]
• late 16th century – indefinite, one, anyone.^[6]
• 1690 – noun, a person just like the one addressed.^[2]
• 1712 – you know as a filler.^[4]
• early 20th century – adjective, suited to the person addressed.^[12]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. The person or people being spoken or written to, as subject or object: Are you coming with us?^[13][2][9]
2. People in general; one: You can't park there after six.^[13][6][10]
3. (chiefly US) Yourself or yourselves: Go and get you a coat.^[13][9]
4. Used before a noun in addressing someone: you lot.^[9]

Noun

1. (informal) The personality or nature of the person addressed: Show them the true you.^[13][2]
2. A person exactly like the one addressed.^[2]

Adjective

1. (informal) Suited to the taste or personality of the person addressed: That jacket is so you.^[12]

Verb

1. To address someone as you, especially instead of thou.^[9][12]

Related words

• ye
• thou
• thee
• your
• yourself

Usage notes

In American English, plural forms have grown up beside you: you-all in the South Midland and Southern United States, you-uns in the South Midland, youse (probably of Irish-American origin) in northern cities, and you guys among younger speakers.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
8. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House