your
/jɔːr/
pronoun
Origin
Old English
ēower — of you, your (plural genitive)
Overview
Meaning Now
- belonging to or associated with the person or people that the speaker is addressing
- belonging to or associated with an unspecified person or people generally (used in a generic sense)
Language path
Proto-Indo-European → Proto-Germanic → Old English → Middle English → English
Earliest form
ēower
Earliest period
Old English
Journey
The word descends from the plural possessive form of the second-person pronoun in Old English. Originally strictly plural, it replaced the singular 'thy/thine' in common usage beginning in the late Middle Ages as a polite form of address, eventually becoming the standard pronoun for both singular and plural addressees.
Evolution
- Proto-Germanic
*iwwiz
“you (plural dative/genitive)”
- Old English
ēower
“your”
plural possessive pronoun
- Middle English
yowre
“your”
vowel shift and stabilization
- Modern English
your
“your”
standard modern form
Connections
Word parts
your
root
second person possessive pronoun
Related across languages
German
euer
your (plural)
Old Norse
yðvar
your
Explore next
Related to your
External references use DefinedTerm semantics.