Y'all

//jɔːl// det, pron, verb, slang

det, pron, verb, slang ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To use the pronoun "y'all" (to). ambitransitive, informal

    "She blithely maintained that she could have smiled magnolias and "y'alled" her way out of any tight spots."

Pronoun
  1. 1
    You (plural). Appalachia, Caribbean, Singapore, Southern-US, informal, nominative, objective, plural, second-person

    "[...] and this y'all know is true, [...]"

  2. 2
    Everyone; everybody. Southern-US, nominative, objective, plural, second-person

    "Hey y'all!"

  3. 3
    You (singular). Southern-US, nominative, objective, plural, rare, second-person

    "I made this for both y'all and your wife to enjoy."

Determiner
  1. 1
    The group spoken or written to.

    "Have y'all ladies finished eating?"

  2. 2
    Your pl; y'all's

    "I need y'all help for a minute."

Synonyms

All synonyms
yeyouyou lotyou manyou peopleyouses

Example

More examples

"Ezra, will y'all come over tonight?"

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.

Related phrases

Y'all Qaedafuck y'ally'all means all

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.