Ye
You - especially the plural 'you', though heard in Ulster and rural Hiberno-English for the singular too. The older English second-person pronoun that standard English collapsed into 'you'. Heard in church readings, song lyrics, dialect writing, and ordinary speech in parts of Ireland and Ulster.
Etymology
From Old English 'gē' meaning the second-person plural. Standard English collapsed the formal/plural 'ye' and informal/singular 'thou' into the single modern 'you' through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; Hiberno-English and Ulster Scots speech kept 'ye' going long after, particularly for the plural where standard English now uses 'yous', 'youse', or 'y'all'. The 'ye' of the Authorised Version of the Bible is the same word that older Irish speakers use to address a roomful of people.
In a sentence
"Will ye all come in out of the rain - your dinners are getting cold."
Historical notes
Ye is heard now in Ireland in three registers: church language (the King James Bible carried the form into religious use), dialect speech (especially Ulster and rural Hiberno-English), and song. Younger urban speakers in Ireland use 'yous' or 'you all' for the plural; older and rural speakers use 'ye'. The word marks the speaker's generation and region: a city-centre Dubliner says 'yous', a Donegal grandfather says 'ye', both meaning the same thing.
Sources
- Oxford English Dictionary, entry ye pron. · dictionary