Yourn

Part of speech: pronoun

Definitions

1. A dialectal possessive pronoun meaning belonging to you, used in place of the standard word yours
2. A regional or informal form of the second-person possessive pronoun, indicating something that belongs to the person addressed
3. A nonstandard possessive pronoun used in some dialects to show ownership by the one being spoken to

Etymology: "Yourn" is an inflected form, the older possessive of "you" used in place of "yours" (as in "that book is yourn"). It developed in Middle English as "youren," built on the same pattern as "ourn" and "hern," where an -n ending was attached to the possessive pronoun. Over time the -s form "yours" displaced it in standard speech, and "yourn" survives today mainly in dialect and informal speech. It is cognate with the West Flemish "joen," meaning the same thing, which points to a shared Germanic pattern for these possessive forms.