Yous

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /juːz/, /jÉ™z/
• Rhymes: -uːz

Alternative forms

• pronoun youse, youze

Origin

From you + -s("plural suffix").

Full definition of yous

Pronoun

1. (regional, chiefly AU, US, Ireland, Scotland) You (with singular or plural reference). from 19th c.
• 1909, PG Wodehouse, The Gem Collector:‘Dere ain't no use for me dis side, Mr. Chames,’ he said. ‘New York's de spot. Youse don't want none of me, now you're married.’
• 1938, Patrick Kavanagh, The Green Fool:‘Yous will meet us here outside this pub,’ Harry Curniskey said.
• 1988, Kathy Lette, Girls' Night Out:‘But what I also seen is that youse have never had a real man before, datin' all them boys. Youse have never had anyone who'd stand up to youse.’
• 1992, Edward Bond, In the Company of Men:You think yous can live wi'oot money! Few months doon this hell, you'll murder for money!

Usage notes

The term is predominantly used in Scotland and Ireland and throughout Australia, as well as overseas areas of previous Irish emigration e.g. some parts of the US (Boston, MA and Philadelphia, PA) and northern Nova Scotia and Lanark Ontario/Canada and South Auckland, New Zealand. It also occurs in Scouse.

Yous(e) as a plural is found in Australia, England, Scotland, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, parts of the northern United States, and parts of Ontario. Yous(e) as a singular is found in Philadelphia, New York, Boston and scattered throughout working class Italian-American communities in the Rust Belt.

Synonyms

• you
• you guys
• you lot UK
• y’all US
• you-uns US
• you fella Australian
• ye Ireland

Noun

plural

1. Plural of you
• 1992, Robert Dubin, Central Life Interests: Creative Individualism in a Complex World (page 10)Most of your life after babyhood has been played out by the several yous.
• 2010, Patrick M Morley, The Man in the Mirror: Solving the 24 Problems Men Face (page 36)There are two yous — the visible you and the real you. The visible you is the you that is known by others.