あなた

Etymology
Compound of.

Originally meant, in contrast to , , and. Appears with this sense at least as early as the ' of the late 900s, and the ' of 974 CE.

The indirect and polite sense of that is also evident in texts from the late 900s, including the .

The sense of as a polite and indirect form of reference appears in texts from around the 1750s. Unrelated to Arabic أنت.

Pronunciation

 * The and  senses only ever have pitch accent [2] (nakadaka).  The  sense may have either pitch accent, with pitch accent [1] (atamadaka) more common.

Pronoun

 * 1)  you second-person pronoun
 * 2)   you
 * 3)   you
 * 4)   dear, darling, sweetheart term used by a wife to address her husband
 * 5)   that person far from both speaker and listener
 * 6)   that direction, that side, that place far from both speaker and listener
 * 7) * 1943, 土井晩翠譯『オヂュッセーア』第二歌
 * 1)   that direction, that side, that place far from both speaker and listener
 * 2) * 1943, 土井晩翠譯『オヂュッセーア』第二歌
 * 1) * 1943, 土井晩翠譯『オヂュッセーア』第二歌

Usage notes
The sense is spelled most often in hiragana in modern usage. The spelling is gender-neutral. Alternative spellings include when referring to females and  when referring to males.

is the most neutral second-person singular pronoun. If names or titles are known, these are used more commonly when addressing people.