ours

ours

English

Etymology

From Middle English oures, attested since the 1300s. Equivalent to our +‎ -s (compare -'s); formed by analogy to his. Displaced ourn (from Middle English ouren) in standard speech.[1]

Pronunciation

• (General American), IPA^(key): /ˈaʊɚz/, /ɑɹz/
• (Received Pronunciation), IPA^(key): /ˈaʊəz/, /ɑːz/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊə(ɹ)z, -ɑː(ɹ)z
• Homophone: hours

Pronoun

ours

1. That which belongs to us; the possessive case of we, used without a following noun.

Translations

that which belongs to us

Aghwan: 𐔱𐔴𐕐𐔼𐕒 (bešio) Arabic: لَنَا‎ m (lanā) Egyptian Arabic: لينا‎ (lina), بتعنا‎ m (betaʿna), بتاعتنا‎ f (betaʿetna), بتوعنا‎ pl (betuʿna) Azerbaijani: bizimki Bahamian Creole: ah own Belarusian: наш (naš) Bikol Central: sato (bcl), satuya Bulgarian: наш (bg) (naš) Chinese: Mandarin: 我們的／我们的 (zh) (wǒmen de); 咱們的／咱们的 (zánmen de); 咱的 (zh) (zán de) Coptic: ⲫⲱⲛ m (phōn) (Bohairic), ⲑⲱⲛ f (thōn) (Bohairic), ⲛⲟⲩⲛ pl (noun) (Bohairic), ⲡⲱⲛ m (pōn) (Sahidic), ⲧⲱⲛ f (tōn) (Sahidic), ⲛⲟⲩⲛ pl (noun) (Sahidic) Czech: náš (cs) m Danish: vores (da), vor (da) Dutch: het onze, de onze, die van ons Esperanto: la nia Finnish: meidän (fi) French: le nôtre (fr) m, la nôtre (fr) f, les nôtres (fr) m pl or f pl German: unserer (de) m, unsere (de) f or pl, unseres (de) n Greek: δικός μας (el) m (dikós mas), δικιά μας f (dikiá mas), δική μας (el) f (dikí mas), δικό μας (el) n (dikó mas), δικοί μας (el) m pl (dikoí mas), δικές μας (el) f pl (dikés mas), δικά μας (el) n pl (diká mas) Ancient: (article and possessive adjective in appropriate gender and number) ὁ ἡμέτερος (ho hēméteros) Hebrew: שלנו‎ (shelánu) Hindi: हमारा (hi) (hamārā) Hungarian: mienk (hu), miénk (hu), mieink (hu) Italian: il nostro m, la nostra f, i nostri m pl, le nostre f pl Japanese: 私たちの (ja) (わたしたちの, watashitachi no), 私等の (わたしたちの, watashitachi no), 我らの (われらの, warera no), 我々の (ja) (われわれの, wareware no) Lao: ຂອງພວກເຮົາ (khǭng phūak hao) Latin: noster (la), nostri (la), nostrum (la) Latvian: mūsu, mūsējs, mūsējais Macedonian: наш (naš) Manchu: ᠮᡝᠨ᠋ᡳᠩᡤᡝ, ᠮᡠᠰᡝᠩᡤᡝ (musengge) Mazanderani: امنی‎ (ameni) Mongolian: Cyrillic: манайх (manajx) Mongolian: ᠮᠠᠨ᠋ᠤᠬᠢ (manuqi) Polish: nasz (pl) Portuguese: o nosso m Romani: amaro m, amari f, amare pl Romanian: al nostru (ro) m, a noastră f, ai noștri m pl, ale noastre f pl Russian: наш (ru) (naš) Serbo-Croatian: naš (sh), наш Slovak: náš Slovene: nàš (sl) Spanish: lo nuestro Swedish: vår (sv) c, vårt (sv) n, våra (sv) pl Thai: ของเรา (kŏng rao) Tuvan: бистии (bistii) Ukrainian: наш (uk) (naš) Urdu: ہمارا‎ (hamārā) Uyghur: بىزنىڭكى‎ (bizningki), بىزنىڭكىلەر‎ pl (bizningkiler) Vietnamese: của chúng tôi Yakut: биһиэнэ (bihiene) Zazaki: emara

References

1. Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “ours”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• Ruso, sour

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French

Etymology

From Middle French ours, from Old French urs, from Latin ursus, from Proto-Italic *orssos, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ŕ̥tḱos (“bear”).

The Early Modern French pronunciation was /uʁ/ before consonants, /uʁz/ before vowels, and /uʁs/ in pausa. For the most part, the pausal pronunciations were eventually lost, but in some cases they were re-established as the basic form (reinforced in part by the spelling, in part by related words; in this case perhaps the feminine ourse).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /uʁs/ (standard)
• IPA^(key): /uʁ/ (archaic pronunciation, either for both numbers or only for the plural)

• audio

  (file)

• Homophones: ourse, ourses

Noun

ours m (plural ours, feminine ourse)

1. bear (animal)
2. (gay slang) bear (hairy gay man)
3. masthead (list of a newspaper's main staff)
4. (cinematography) rough cut

Derived terms

• ail des ours
• il ne faut pas vendre la peau de l'ours avant de l'avoir tué
• nounours
• ours à face courte
• ours à lunette
• ours blanc
• ours brun
• ours en peluche
• ours malais
• ours mal léché
• ours marin
• ours noir
• ourson
• ours polaire

 

Descendants

• Haitian Creole: ous
• Louisiana Creole French: lours, lous
• Mauritian Creole: lurs
• Seychellois Creole: lours

Further reading

• “ours”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
• “ours” in Dico en ligne Le Robert.

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Middle English

Pronoun

ours

1. Alternative form of oures

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Middle French

Etymology

From Old French urs, from Latin ursus.

Noun

ours m (plural ours, feminine singular ourse, feminine plural ourses)

1. bear (mammal)

Descendants

• French: ours