y'all - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (2024)

Table of Contents

Contents English Alternative forms Etymology Pronunciation Pronoun Verb Determiner References Anagrams FAQs

See also: yall and ya'll

1 English
- 1.1 Alternative forms
- 1.2 Etymology
- 1.3 Pronunciation
- 1.4 Pronoun
  - 1.4.1 Usage notes
  - 1.4.2 Synonyms
  - 1.4.3 Derived terms
  - 1.4.4 Related terms
  - 1.4.5 Translations
- 1.5 Verb
- 1.6 Determiner
- 1.7 References
- 1.8 Anagrams

English

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y'all on Wikipedia

Alternative forms

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ya’ll, yall, yo'll, yoll, you-all, you all

Etymology

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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.

Pronunciation

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IPA^(key): /jɔl/
(cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /jɑl/
Audio (Southern US): (file)
Rhymes: -ɔːl
Homophone: yawl

Pronoun

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y'all (second-person plural nominative or objective, possessive determiner y'all's, possessive pronoun y'all's, reflexive y'allselves)

(informal, now chiefly Southern US, African-American Vernacular, New York Latino English, Appalachia, Caribbean, Indian South African English, Māori English, Newfoundland and Labrador) plural of you
- 1631, William Lisle, The Faire Æthiopian:
  [...] and this y'all know is true, [...]
- 1987, Judson D. Hale, The education of a Yankee: an American memoir, page 3:
  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? ...
- 2007, Roy Blount, Long time leaving: dispatches from up South, page 117:
  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.

Usage notes

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The form y'all is heard primarily in the Southern United States, and nationwide in AAVE. It is also found among Indian speakers of South African English, and parts of the Carribean. Recently, the form has begun to be used by other American English speakers, as well, and even non-American English speakers to a lesser extent, though still less commonly than you guys.^[2] For other second-personal plural pronouns, see you.
In the past, y'all was never used as a proper singular, but it may have been used with an implied plural, e.g. "you [and your team]," "you [and your coworkers]," "you [and your family]." Due to a cultural shift in the United States by non-Southerners using the word, it is now rarely also used as a singular you,^[3] although most (increasing) non-Southern / non-AAVE use is, like Southern and AAVE use, plural.^[2]
Notwithstanding its etymology, the all in y'all is merely a plural marker, not a quantifier. Thus, just as us may refer either to some of us or all of us in standard English, y'all may refer either to some of y'all or to all [of] y'all.
Y'all may not be considered informal speech, but is also not considered formal -- You all would, to a few, be considered more formal, but is not required in formal situations nor is it encouraged.

Synonyms

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See Thesaurus:y'all

Derived terms

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fuck y'all
y'all means all
Y'all Qaeda

Related terms

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y'all's (possessive)
all y'all (definitely plural)
y'all two, y'all three, etc
ya'll
y'awl
allyou
ya
d'y'all

Translations

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plural of you — see you/translations

Verb

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y'all (third-person singular simple present y'alls, present participle y'alling, simple past and past participle y'alled)

(transitive, intransitive, informal) To use the pronoun "y'all" (to).
- 1971, Frank Deford, There she is: the life and times of Miss America:
  She blithely maintained that she could have smiled magnolias and "y'alled" her way out of any tight spots.
- 1990, Paul Levy, Finger lickin' good: a Kentucky childhood:
  With his swarthy complexion and jet black, straight hair, Louis was actually quite dashing. He wore his expensively cut clothes and heavy rings well, too. Besides his short stature, his most noticeable peculiarity was that he had a voice like Lytton Strachey's, which moved alarmingly, in the middle of a sentence, or sometimes halfway through a word, from a booming bass to the high-pitched, almost whistling soprano of a boy whose voice has not yet broken. As he y'alled and drawled...
- 1997, Terence Sieg, Golf travel's guide to the world's greatest golf destinations: the ultimate resource for the discriminating golfer:
  Indeed, non-Southerners may feel themselves "y'alled" to death down here, yet even the most stony- faced New Englander will be charmed by the warmth of the Cloister's staff. The tradition of service is simply better and more deeply entrenched in the South than in any other region of the United States.

Determiner

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y'all

The group spoken or written to.
Have y'all ladies finished eating?
(especially African-American Vernacular) Your pl; y'all's
I need y'all help for a minute.

References

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^ [1]
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Black, Bill (2018 November 12) “Why Is Everyone Suddenly Saying 'Y'All'?”, in Mel Magazine‎^[2]
^ Okrent, Arika (2014 September 14) “Can y'all be used to refer to a single person?”, in The Week‎^[3], The Week Publications, retrieved 2014-09-15

Anagrams

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-ally, Ally, Lyla, ally

y'all - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (2024)

FAQs

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Like its sister project Wikipedia, Wiktionary is run by the Wikimedia Foundation, and is written collaboratively by volunteers, dubbed "Wiktionarians". Its wiki software, MediaWiki, allows almost anyone with access to the website to create and edit entries.

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Is all y all redundant? ›

Usage notes

This form of y'all can be considered incorrect in certain parts of the American South as being redundant. While "All y'all" is acceptable as either the subject or object in the structure of a sentence, the variant, "y'all all," should be used principally as the subject.

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What is the difference between y all and all y all? ›

Variations Of Y'all

Though "y'all" is inherently plural, in addressing a larger group of people, "all y'all" is an occasionally used casual phrase. Like all soda is called Coke, and all tea is sweet unless otherwise noted, "y'all" is a crucial piece of Southern verbiage deeply engrained in our culture.

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What does Y alls mean in slang? ›

Y'all is an informal way of saying `you all. ' [US, informal]

Is Wiktionary a credible source? ›

It's credible, but like any community edited resource it has gaps and inaccuracies. I think different dictionaries excel at different aspects, so usually I end up using thefreedictionary.com which is a consolidator.

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What is the Wiktionary controversial? ›

controversial (comparative more controversial, superlative most controversial) Arousing controversy—a debate or discussion of opposing opinions.

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Why is "y all" not a word? ›

Linguistic characteristics. Functionally, the emergence of y'all can be traced to the merging of singular ("thou") and plural ("ye") second-person pronouns in Early Modern English. Y'all thus fills in the gap created by the absence of a separate second-person plural pronoun in standard modern English.

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Do people from New York say Y all? ›

In other regions of the US, 'y'all' has historically been far less common. Yet, in the past couple years, 'y'all' seems to have exploded in use, including and especially among people who live far outside the South, in places north of the Mason-Dixon Line in the US, like New York City, and even overseas.

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Is yall proper English? ›

Although "y'all" is not generally considered appropriate for formal writing, it's not an improper or incorrect term, nor does it indicate a failure to grasp grammar or the English language. It is just another way that language has evolved over time to provide us with a much-needed second-person plural pronoun.

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Is "ain't" a real word? ›

Yes, ain't is a real word that has been used by English speakers for centuries, with its earliest usage attributed to English Restoration playwrights in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Today, ain't is considered informal and is associated with dialectical or colloquial speech.

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Is y all a Southern thing? ›

In the U.S. it was primarily a Southern U.S. usage. Some have theorized that it had English 'you all' origin, and also was supported by the Scots-Irish term 'ye aw,' which basically means the same thing, 'you all.

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What is the Southern slang for you all? ›

"Y'all" is typical Southern slang, but it's also a proper contraction (you all = y'all). Southerners say this word all the time.

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Who started the word y all? ›

The etymology of “y'all” is murky. Some linguists trace it back to the Scots-Irish phrase “ye aw”; others suggest an African American origin, perhaps from the Igbo word for “you” brought over by Nigerian-born enslaved people.

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Is y all in the Oxford dictionary? ›

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the pronoun y'all. See 'Meaning & use' for definition, usage, and quotation evidence. This word is used in Caribbean English and midland U.S. English.

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Is "y all" a colloquialism? ›

While “y'all” is considered slang, it's a useful word nonetheless. The English language doesn't have a good second person plural pronoun; “you” can be both singular and plural, but it's sometimes awkward to use as a plural.

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