你每

Chinese

		you	each; every
simp. and trad. (你每)		你	每

Etymology

Attested as early as Late Middle Chinese, with 每 (měi) functioning as a meaningless particle. At that time, 你每 was an equilibrating disyllabic version of the emerging 2nd. sg. and pl. pronoun 您 (nín). During Yuan Dynasty, the creolisation of Mongolian and Northern Chinese to form the Han'er language resulted in immoderate usage expansion of the plural suffix -每, by analogy with Mongolian noun plural suffixes -ууд (-uud), -чууд (-čuud), -д (-d), нар (nar). After the overthrow of the Yuan Dynasty and the decreolisation of Han'er, 你每 gradually developed into the present-day 2nd. pl. pronoun 你們／你们 (nǐmen). The origin of the suffix -每 is unclear, perhaps also an Altaic influence. See 您 (nín).

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): nǐměi

(Zhuyin): ㄋㄧˇ ㄇㄟˇ

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Pinyin: nǐměi [Phonetic: níměi]
  - Zhuyin: ㄋㄧˇ ㄇㄟˇ
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: niimeei
  - IPA ^(key): /ni²¹⁴⁻³⁵ meɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/

Noun

你每

(singular) you
(plural) you

References

《历史语言学研究》(Studies on historical linguistics)，第2辑 (Series 2)，2009，商务印书馆 (The Commercial Press)。

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