Meaning
In informal Irish English, your one is a way to refer to a female person being talked about when her name is unknown, unnecessary, forgotten, or already clear from the conversation. It often corresponds to that woman, that girl, she, or the woman in question rather than literally meaning a woman connected to the listener.
How it is used
Foras na Gaeilge lists your one as an informal phrase for a female person and gives the example of looking at a particular woman. Trinity College Dublin's guidance for visiting students explains your man as non-possessive reference and explicitly identifies your one as the female equivalent meaning that woman.
Examples
- “Who's your one waiting beside the desk?”
- “Your one from the office rang again this morning.”
- “Look at your one with the pink trousers.”
Pronunciation
/jər ˈwʌn/ · yer WUN
Tone and register
Usually familiar and context-dependent. It can be neutral shorthand when a name is unavailable, but intonation and setting can make it sound amused, dismissive, gossipy, or impolite, especially when referring to someone in a more formal relationship.
Visitor guidance
Visitors should not automatically interpret your one as a woman who belongs to or is related to the listener. In the Irish-English regional use, context normally identifies the woman being discussed. Because the phrase is distinctly informal, recognizing it is more important than copying it in formal or professional conversation.
Cultural context
Your one belongs to the same conversational reference pattern as your man while preserving a female referent. The ordinary-looking possessive your can therefore mislead outsiders: these expressions often manage shared conversational reference rather than literal possession.
Places represented
Open the reviewed place guide for each regional sense carried by this canonical entry.