Ours

Part of speech: pronoun

Pronunciation: /ˈaʊəz/

Definitions

1. A possessive pronoun indicating something that belongs to or is associated with the speaker and one or more other people
2. A pronoun used to indicate ownership or association by the speaker and others, representing shared possession or belonging to a collective group
3. A term expressing possession, referring to items or attributes that pertain to the speaker along with individuals in their group

Etymology: Possessive pronouns in English once had a clumsy shape that speakers gradually smoothed out. "Ours" comes from Middle English "oures", first attested in the 1300s, and it is built simply from "our" plus the same "-s" ending you hear in "'s", the marker of possession. The ending was not unique to this word: speakers formed "ours" by analogy with "his", which already worked that way, so the pattern spread to our form. Before "ours" took over, standard speech used "ourn", a form that came from Middle English "ouren". The longer, older shape was pushed aside, and "ours" is the version that survived in standard English.

Synonyms: our