English

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Alternative forms

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Pronoun

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your Honor

  1. (formal, obsolete, addressing someone of higher rank or status than oneself) you
    • 1626 September 18 (Gregorian calendar), James Howell, “XXV. To the Right Honourable the Lord Conway, Principal Secretary of State to His Majesty, at Hampton Court.”, in Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ. Familiar Letters Domestic and Forren. [], 3rd edition, volume I, London: [] Humphrey Mos[e]ley, [], published 1655, →OCLC, section IV, page 177:
      Touching the firſt, I refer my ſelf to your Honors favourable Opinion, and the Character which my Lord S. and others ſhall give of me: []
    • 1847, George Washington, The Writings of George Washington: Being His Correspondence, Addresses, page 26:
      The numbers of the French have been greatly magnified, as your Honor may see by a copy of the enclosed journal of a person, whom I sent out to gain intelligence.
  2. (US, formal, addressing a judge or magistrate) you
  3. (chiefly Philippines, formal) you (a form of address for a representative or senator in the Philippine Congress during hearings and inquiries, and for canvassers during the canvass of electoral results).

Usage notes

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Although this phrase is used as the second person pronoun, the verb it governs is conjugated in the third person.

Derived terms

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Translations

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