Etymology

y'all

Today it means: You (plural). Full definition →

English all ← Middle English all ← Old English eall
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*yúHs
  2. Proto-Indo-European*uswé
  3. Proto-Indo-European*uswís
  4. Proto-Germanic*izwiz
  5. Proto-West Germanic*iwwiz
  6. Old Englishēow
  7. Middle Englishyow
  8. Englishyou
  9. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-der.?
  10. Proto-Indo-European*h₂elnós
  11. Proto-Germanic*allaz
  12. Proto-West Germanic*all
  13. Old Englisheall
  14. Middle Englishall
  15. Englishall
  16. English todayy'all

Contraction of you all. 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.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.