thine

Thine is a second-person possessive form in English, used historically with thou. It translates to yours in Modern English. In Early Modern English, thine served as both a possessive determiner (the form that accompanies a noun) and as an independent possessive pronoun (a stand-alone form meaning yours). The more common determiner was thy before consonants; thine could appear before vowel sounds or in fixed expressions. Writers vary in practice; thine appears in many texts.

Its etymology traces to Old English þīn and to Proto-Germanic *þinaz, and it is related to the German dein and Dutch jouw. Over time, thine declined as your/yours became standard in Modern English.

Today, thine survives mainly in archaic, religious, or literary contexts, such as poetry or historical fiction, where it conveys antiquity or formality. It may occur as a standalone pronoun in phrases like This book is thine, or as a possessive determiner in phrases like thine eyes or thine own heart, though such usage is stylized in contemporary English.

See also: thou, thy, thee.