The word yours is a possessive pronoun that means “belonging to you.” When you write yours in a sentence, you're indicating ownership without repeating what the thing is. If someone asks “Whose backpack is this?” you might answer “That one's yours” instead of saying “That backpack is your backpack.”

Yours works differently from your (which comes before a noun, as in “your pencil”). You use yours when the noun is already understood or has been mentioned. If two bikes are leaning against a fence, you might say “The red one is mine, and the blue one is yours.”

The word appears in common ways to end letters: Yours truly or Sincerely yours. These closings originally meant something like “I am yours” or “I belong to you” in the sense of being your faithful friend or servant. Today they're simply polite ways to sign off.

You'll also hear yours in phrases like “a friend of yours” (one of your friends) or in questions like “Is this yours?” Yours helps us talk about possession cleanly and clearly, without awkward repetition cluttering up our sentences.