Old English ēow, dative and accusative of gē ye¹. In the 14th cent. you began to be used also for the nominative plural ye¹, and during the 15th cent. for the singular forms thou¹ and thee, orig to show respect when addressing a superior, but later also to an equal, although thou and thee were still used when addressing a child or one lower in the social scale and, paradoxically, God. By 1700 you was the usual form for the nominative, accusative, and dative cases, singular and plural, thou and the other singular forms being used mainly in dialect, as archaisms, and by the Society of Friends (Quakers) as a sign of their disregard of social distinctions