your

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

your

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• ur (informal, Internet, text messaging)
• ya, yer, yr (informal)
• yo, yo' (African American Vernacular)

Etymology

From Middle English your, youre, ȝour, ȝoure, from Old English ēower, īower (“your”, plural), from Proto-West Germanic *iuwar, from Proto-Germanic *izweraz. Cognate with Saterland Frisian jou (“your”), Dutch jouw (“your”), German Low German jo, jos (“your”), German euer (“your”, plural), Danish jeres (“your”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /jɔː/, /jʊə/, (unstressed) /jə/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

  • Audio

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)
• (US) enPR: yôr, IPA^(key): /jɔɹ/, /jʊɚ/, /jɝ/, (unstressed) /jɚ/

  • Audio (US) (stressed)

    (file)

  • Audio (US) (unstressed)

    (file)

• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) enPR: yōr, IPA^(key): /jo(ː)ɹ/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /joə/
• (non-rhotic, show-sure merger, AAVE) IPA^(key): /joʊ/
• Homophone: you're
• Homophone: yore (accents with the pour–poor merger)
• Homophone: yaw (non-rhotic accents with the paw-poor merger)
• Homophone: yo (non-rhotic accents with the show-sure merger)

• Rhymes: -ʊə(ɹ), -ɔː(ɹ)
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ) (some rhotic dialects)
• In US English, /jɚ/ is generally the unstressed version of /jɔɹ/; in many dialects, however, /jɝ/ is frequent even in positions of stress.

Determiner

your

1. Belonging to you; of you; related to you (singular; one owner).

   Let’s meet tomorrow at your convenience.

   Is this your cat?

2. Belonging to you; of you; related to you (plural; more owners).
   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, John 6:7, column 1:

     Then Ieſus ſaid vnto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready.

3. A determiner that conveys familiarity and mutual knowledge of the modified noun.

   Not your average Tom, Dick and Harry.

   Your Show of Shows

   Your World with Neil Cavuto

   Not Your Average Travel Guide

4. (Ireland) That; the specified (usually used with a human referent)

   Your man just bought a new car.

   Have you seen what your one over there is doing?

Derived terms

Translations

Contraction

your

1. Misspelling of you're.

Usage notes

• The use of your instead of you're is a common mistake in written English.

See also

Cameroon Pidgin

Alternative forms

• ya

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ja/

Determiner

your

1. 2nd person singular possessive determiner

See also

Middle English

Alternative forms

• (common) youre, yowr, yowre, ȝour, ȝoure
• yowyr, yowur, yor, yur, yure, yeur, yhure, yhour, yhoure, ȝowyr, ȝowur, ȝor, ȝore, ȝur, ȝure, ȝiore, ȝhour, ȝhoure, ȝaure, ȝiure, ȝiwer, ȝeur, ȝeure, ȝeuer, ȝeuwer, ȝewer, ȝewere, gur, gure, giur, giure, giuor, giuer, giuwer, giwer, ihore, ihoire, iure, eour, eoure, eouer, eouwer, eouwere, eower, eowwer, eore, eur, eure, euwer, euwere, our, oure, or, ore, ouer, ouwer, ouwere, ower, owur, hour, æure

Etymology

From Old English ēower, from Proto-West Germanic *iuwar, from Proto-Germanic *izweraz. Initial /j/ is by analogy with ye.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /juːr/, /jiu̯r/
• (unstressed) IPA^(key): /jur/

Determiner

your (nominative pronoun ye)

1. Second-person plural genitive determiner: your (plural)
2. (formal) Second-person singular genitive determiner: your (singular).

Pronoun

your (nominative ye)

1. Second-person plural possessive pronoun: yours, of you (plural)

Descendants

• English: your (ya, yer, yo)
• Scots: your (yer)
• Yola: yer, ye

See also

References

• “your, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 20 May 2018.