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yow

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Yow and -yow

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Noun

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yow (plural yows)

  1. Alternative form of yowe.

Etymology 2

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Interjection

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yow

  1. Expression of pain; ouch.
    Yow! I dropped it on my toe!
  2. Expression of humorous surprise or emphasis.
    You've been divorced four times? Yow!
Synonyms
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Etymology 3

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Pronoun

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yow

  1. (West Midlands) Alternative form of you.

Anagrams

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Huave

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Noun

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yow

  1. water

Derived terms

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References

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  • Stairs Kreger, Glenn Albert; Scharfe de Stairs, Emily Florence; Olvaries Oviedo, Proceso; Ponce Villanueva, Tereso; Comonfort Llave, Lorenzo (1981), Diccionario huave de San Mateo del Mar (Serie de vocabularios indígenas “Mariano Silva y Aceves”; 24)‎[4] (in Spanish), México, D.F.: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, pages 184–185

Middle English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Etymology tree
Proto-Germanic *izwiz
Proto-West Germanic *iwwiz
Old English ēow
Middle English yow

    From Old English ēow,[2] from Proto-West Germanic *iwwiz, from Proto-Germanic *izwiz.

    While initial /j/ would be sometimes expected due to the "breaking" of the Old English sequence /e͜oːw/, its universality is probably due to analogy with ye, while the usual vocalism in /uː/ rather than expected /iu̯/ (or /ɔu̯/ when "broken") is perhaps either due to low stress or dissimilation from the initial /j/.

    Late Middle English /jiu̯/ is probably not a continuation of early /iu̯/ but rather reflects the influence of /j/ (either upon /uː/ or the diphthong that resulted from the initial stages of the Great Vowel Shift); compare Early Modern English shewer (“shower”), yewth (“youth”). The alternative late Middle English and Early Modern English form where /uː/ remains undiphthongised either represents an alternative treatment after /j/ or a generalised unstressed form.[3][4]

    Pronunciation

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    Pronoun

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    yow (nominative ye)

    1. Second-person plural object pronoun: you (plural).
      • c. 1395, Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Clerk's Tale", Canterbury Tales, Ellesmere manuscript (c. 1410):
        certes lord / so wel vs liketh yow / And al youre werk / and euere han doon / þat we / Ne koude nat vs self deuysen how / We myghte lyuen / in moore felicitee [...].
        (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    2. (formal) second-person singular object pronoun: you (singular).

    Descendants

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    • English: you
      • Belizean Creole: yu
      • Bislama: yu
      • Cameroon Pidgin: you
      • Jamaican Creole: yuh
      • Nigerian Pidgin: yu
      • Sranan Tongo: yu
        • Aukan: yu
        • >? Maroon Spirit Language: i
        • Saramaccan: yu
      • Tok Pisin: yu
      • Torres Strait Creole: yu
    • Middle Scots: ȝow

    See also

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    Middle English personal pronouns
    nominative accusative dative genitive possessive
    singular 1st person I, ich, ik me min
    mi1    		 min
    2nd person þou þe þin
    þi1    		 þin
    3rd person m he him
    hine2    		 him his his
    hisen
    f sche, heo hire
    heo     		hire hire
    hires, hiren
    n hit hit
    him2    		 his, hit —
    dual3 1st person wit unk unker
    2nd person ȝit inc inker
    plural 1st person we us, ous oure oure
    oures, ouren
    2nd person4 ye yow your your
    youres, youren
    3rd person inh. he hem
    he2    		 hem here here
    heres, heren
    bor. þei þem, þeim þeir þeir
    þeires, þeiren
    1 Used preconsonantally or before h.
    2 Early or dialectal.
    3 Dual pronouns are only sporadically found in Early Middle English; after that, they are replaced by plural forms. There are no third person dual forms in Middle English.
    4 Sometimes used as a formal 2nd person singular.

    References

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    1. ^ McIntosh, Angus; Samuels, M[ichael] L.; Benskin, Michael (2013) [1986], Michael Benskin, Margaret Laing, editors, eLALME: A Linguistic Atlas of Late Medieval English‎[1], Edinburgh: Angus McIntosh Centre for Historical Linguistics; revised November 2024.
    2. ^ “you, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 18 May 2018.
    3. ^ Dobson, E[ric] J. (1957), English pronunciation 1500-1700‎[2], second edition, volume II: Phonology, Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1968, →OCLC, § 178, pages 698-699.
    4. ^ Luick, Karl (1929-1940), Herbert Wild, Friedrich Koziol, editors, Historische Grammatik der englischen Sprache‎[3], Erster Band, II. Abteilung, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, published 1940, →OCLC, § 486, pages 570-571.

    Scots

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    Etymology

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    Uncertain; most likely from Old English ēow.

    Pronoun

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    yow (personal, emphatic)

    1. (Southern Scots) you

    See also

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    Whitesands

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    Noun

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    yow

    1. turtle

    References

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    Wolof

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    Pronunciation

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    • Audio:(file)

    Pronoun

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    yow

    1. you (second-person singular subject pronoun)

    See also

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    Wolof personal pronouns
    singular plural
    subject object subject object
    1st person man ma nun nu
    2nd person yow la yeen leen
    3rd person moom ko ñoom leen

    Yapese

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    Pronunciation

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    Pronoun

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    yow

    1. Third-person dual pronoun; they two

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    Yapese personal pronouns
    singular dual plural
    first
    person     		exclusive gaeg gamow gamaed
    inclusive — gadow gadaed
    second person guur gimeew gimeed
    third person qiir yow yaed
    partitive — bagyow bagyaed
    Partitive pronouns are used in expressions such as one of them two (dual) or one of them (plural).

    References

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    • Jensen, John Thayer (1977), Yapese Reference Grammar, Honolulu: The University press of Hawaii, pages 132-135
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