you
/ju/pronoun, determiner, verb, noun
you is spelled Y-O-U: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 9,550 times per million words in written English, the 11th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “ewe vs you” about 10 times a month (Bing, United States). As a pronoun, you means “The people spoken, or written to, as an object” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in you?
| Letters | 3: Y-O-U |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 9,550 times per million words; the 11th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is you?
You appears 9,550 times per million words in written English, the 11th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce you?
- UK /ju/
- /jɪ/
- /jə/
You has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-you_unstressed.ogg, En-uk-you.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-you.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with you
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: yer, you people, yow.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with you?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as you from its last stressed vowel (/u/, British pronunciation):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of you
- your
- yours
- yourself singular
- yourselves plural
- ya informal
- yah informal
- yer informal
- yeh informal
- y' informal
- yo informal
- yu informal
- yuh informal
- yoh
- yoo
- yow
- u informal
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does you mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
pronoun
- 1
The people spoken, or written to, as an object.
Both of you should get ready now.
- 2
UScolloquial(To) yourselves, (to) yourself.
- 3
The person spoken to or written to, as an object. (Replacing thee; originally as a mark of respect.)
- 4
The people spoken to or written to, as a subject. (Replacing ye.)
You are all supposed to do as I tell you.
- 5
The person spoken to or written to, as a subject. (Originally as a mark of respect.)
- 6
colloquialA person's favorite sports team.
I get that you're from Southeast Michigan, but I'm still surprised that you're a Detroit Lions fan. You have been on the receiving end of losing seasons for a while now.
- 7
Anyone, one; an unspecified individual or group of individuals (as subject or object).
- 8
A dummy pronoun used in certain constructions, usually with verbs of receiving (such as get or find) or sensing (such as see or hear), typically stating the existence or typicality of something.
You get a lot of rude people in London.
determiner
- 1
The individual or group spoken or written to.
Have you gentlemen come to see the lady who fell backwards off a bus?
- 2
Used before epithets, describing the person being addressed, for emphasis.
You idiot!
- 3
nonstandardYour.
verb
- 1
To address (a person) using the pronoun you (in the past, especially to use you rather than thou, when you was considered more formal).
noun
- 1
The name of the Latin script letter U/u.
pronoun
- 1
Honorific alternative letter-case form of you, sometimes used when referring to God or another important figure who is understood from context.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate you?
Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of you: u, yr.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
You in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | vous, vous autres , toi , tu , espèce de, bande de |
| German | euch, Euch, Sie, Ihnen , dich, Dich |
| Portuguese | vocês, os, as, os senhores, as senhoras , o |
| Spanish | os, los, las, les, (leísmo) les, vosotras |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does you come from?
From Middle English you, yow, ȝow (object case of ye), from Old English ēow (“you”, dative case of ġē), from Proto-West Germanic *iwwi (“you”, dative case of *jiʀ), from Proto-Germanic *iwwiz (“you”, dative case of *jīz), the Western form of Proto-Germanic *izwiz (“you”, dative case of *jūz), from Proto-Indo-European *yúHs (“you”, plural).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).