y'all
/jɔl/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.02 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
pron
You (singular).
det
Your pl; y'all's
Example Sentences
- "[...] and this y'all know is true, [...]"
- "Much later, after dozens of the men had come up to me to shake my hand (with both of theirs) and say "Y'all come back soon, hear? ..."
- "People in the South do indeed seem to be addressing a single person as "y'all." For instance, a restaurant patron might ask a waiter, "What y'all got for dessert tonight?" In that case, "y'all" refers collectively to the people who run the restaurant."
- "Hey y'all!"
- "I made this for both y'all and your wife to enjoy."
- "You alla sudden gettin’ human with yo’ N-word and now a US Grant. Y’all becomin’ a rare white boy, ain’t ya?"
Etymology
Contraction of you all, and/or from Scots ye aw. Attested since at least 1631. Compare Dutch jullie (originally jij lui (literally “you people”)) for a similar development of a new plural pronoun out of Proto-Germanic *jīz that originally was already plural.
Word Breakdown
- Root: ye aw
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /jɔl/
- British English: /jɔːl/