he

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English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English he, from Old English , from Proto-West Germanic *hiʀ, from Proto-Germanic *hiz (this, this one).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (UK) enPR: , IPA(key): /ˈhiː/, (unstressed) IPA(key): /hi/, /i/
  • (US) enPR: , IPA(key): /hi/, [hi], [çi]
  • (file)
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -iː

Pronoun[edit]

he (third-person singular, masculine, nominative case, oblique him, reflexive himself, possessive his)

  1. (personal) A male person or animal already known or implied.
    • 1620, Giovanni Bocaccio, John Florio, transl., The Decameron, Containing an Hundred Pleaſant Nouels: Wittily Diſcourſed, Betweene Seuen Honourable Ladies, and Three Noble Gentlemen[1], Isaac Iaggard, →ISBN, Nouell 8, The Eighth Day:
      [] purſued his vnneighbourly purpoſe in ſuch ſort: that hee being the ſtronger perſwader, and ſhe (belike) too credulous in beleeuing or elſe ouer-feeble in reſiſting, from priuate imparlance, they fell to action; and continued their cloſe fight a long while together, vnſeene and vvithout ſuſpition, no doubt to their equall ioy and contentment.
    • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, H.L. Brækstad, transl., Folk and Fairy Tales, page 77:
      "It was he we saw the tracks of down by Rausand hill."
    • July 18 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Rises[2]
      Though Bane’s sing-song voice gives his pronouncements a funny lilt, he doesn’t have any of the Joker’s deranged wit, and Nolan isn’t interested in undercutting his seriousness for the sake of a breezier entertainment.
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:he.
  2. (personal, sometimes proscribed, see usage notes) they; he or she (a person whose gender is unknown or irrelevant.)
    The rulebook clearly states that "if any student is caught cheating, he will be expelled", and you were caught cheating, were you not, Anna?
  3. (personal, sometimes proscribed) it; an animal whose gender is unknown.
  4. A genderless object regarded as masculine, such as certain stars or planets (e.g. Sun, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter) or certain ships.
    Antonyms: she, it
    • 1770, A Mathematical Miscellany in Four Parts, 3rd edition, p. 125:
      JUPITER is the largest of all the Planets, his Orbit lies between the Orbits of the Earth and Mars, and at the cast Distance of 426 Millions of Miles from the Sun, he goes round him in 11 Years, 314 Days and 12 Hours; []
    • 2019, Sabaton, Bismarck:
      He [= the ship Bismarck] was made to rule the waves across the seven seas []
Usage notes[edit]
  • He was traditionally used as both a masculine and a gender-neutral pronoun, but since the mid-20th century generic usage has sometimes been considered sexist and limiting.[1][2] It is deprecated by some style guides, such as Wadsworth.[3] In place of generic he, writers and speakers may use he or she, alternate he and she as the indefinite person, use the singular they, or rephrase sentences to use plural they.
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
  1. ^ he” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
  2. ^ When Words Collide: A Media Writer's Guide to Grammar and Style (2007, →ISBN
  3. ^ The Pocket Wadsworth Handbook, 2009 MLA Update Edition →ISBN, page 81: [A]void using the generic he or him when your subject could be either male or female. [...] Sexist: Before boarding, each passenger should make certain that he has his ticket. / Revised: Before boarding, passengers should make certain that they have their tickets.

Determiner[edit]

he

  1. (African-American Vernacular) Synonym of his

Noun[edit]

he (countable and uncountable, plural hes)

  1. (uncountable) The game of tag, or it, in which the player attempting to catch the others is called "he".
  2. The player who chases and attempts to catch the others in this game.
  3. (informal) A male.
    Is your cat a he or a she?

Etymology 2[edit]

Transliteration of various Semitic letters, such as Phoenician 𐤄(h), Hebrew ה(h), Classical Syriac ܗ(h, ), and Old South Arabian 𐩠(h).

Alternative forms[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

he

  1. The name of the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others).
    • 1658, Thomas Browne, The Garden of Cyrus, Folio Society 2007, page 210:
      The same number in the Hebrew mysteries and Cabalistical accounts was the character of Generation; declared by the Letter He, the fifth in their Alphabet.
    • 1988, Christina Pribićević-Zorić, translating Milorad Pavić, Dictionary of the Khazars, Vintage 1989, p. 7:
      This Nehama claimed that in his own hand he recognized the consonant “he” of his Hebrew language, and in the letter “vav” his own male soul.
  2. The name of the first letter of the Old South Arabian abjad.
Translations[edit]

See also[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Etymology 3[edit]

Interjection[edit]

he

  1. (uncommon, usually reduplicated) An expression of laughter.
    Synonyms: ha, hehe (more common)
    • 1897, Charles Dudley Warner, Hamilton Wright Mabie, Charles Henry Warner, Lucia Isabella Gilbert Runkle, Library of the World's Best Literature: A-Z, page 1791:
      If e'er he went into excess, / 'Twas from a somewhat lively thirst; / But he who would his subjects bless, / Odd's fish!—must wet his whistle first; / And so from every cask they got, / Our king did to himself allot / At least a pot. / Sing ho, ho, ho! and he, he, he! / That's the kind of king for me.
    • 1921, Norman Davey, The Pilgrim of a Smile, page 247:
      "Well, what is your next tale?" said Sumner, a little brusquely. "He, he! he, he! . . . he, he!" chuckled the bottle, "the text tale I'm going to tell you in a very funny one. It will make you laugh. There's a lady in it—he, he!—a very comic affair."

Anagrams[edit]


Aukan[edit]

Noun[edit]

he

  1. paca (large South and Central American rodent)

References[edit]


Breton[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Compare Welsh ei.

Determiner[edit]

he

  1. her
    he zadher father

Catalan[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

he

  1. first-person singular present indicative form of haver

Classical Nahuatl[edit]

Etymology[edit]

A natural expression.

Pronunciation[edit]

Interjection[edit]

he

  1. an expression of physical pain; ouch.

References[edit]

  • Alonso de Molina (1571) Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, Editorial Porrúa, page 22r

Danish[edit]

Interjection[edit]

he

  1. (onomatopoeia) Signifies a laugh, especially one that is slightly mischievous.

See also[edit]


Dutch[edit]

Interjection[edit]

he

  1. Misspelling of .
  2. Misspelling of .

Esperanto[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Interjection[edit]

he

  1. interjection used to attract someone's attention, hey
  2. interjection expressing irony

Derived terms[edit]

See also[edit]


Fasu[edit]

Noun[edit]

hẹ or hȩ́ (Fasu)

  1. water
  2. river
    he Aiyothe River Aiyo
  3. lake
    he KutupuLake Kutubu
  4. liquid

Synonyms[edit]

  • hi (Namumi)

References[edit]


Finnish[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Proto-Finnic *hek, from Proto-Finno-Permic *sej. Cognates include Northern Sami sii, Erzya сынь (synʹ). The word is inflected as plural, but there is no plural marker in the nominative, except in dialects (het).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈhe/, [ˈhe̞]
  • Audio:
    (file)
  • Rhymes: -e
  • Syllabification: he

Pronoun[edit]

he

  1. (personal) they (always plural, only of people)
Usage notes[edit]
  • In standard Finnish, he is practically never omitted, despite the verb showing both the person and the number. (compare the usage of hän, "she" / "he")
Declension[edit]
Synonyms[edit]
  • (dialectal): het
  • (dialectal): hyö
  • (colloquial): ne
Descendants[edit]
  • Kven: het

See also[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From Phoenician 𐤄(h) and/or Hebrew ה‎.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈhe(ː)/, [ˈhe̞(ː)]
  • Rhymes: -e
  • Syllabification: he

Noun[edit]

he

  1. he (fifth letter of the Hebrew and Phoenician scripts and the Northwest Semitic abjad)
Declension[edit]
Inflection of he (Kotus type 21/rosé, no gradation)
nominative he het
genitive hen heiden
heitten
partitive hetä heitä
illative hehen heihin
singular plural
nominative he het
accusative nom. he het
gen. hen
genitive hen heiden
heitten
partitive hetä heitä
inessive hessä heissä
elative hestä heistä
illative hehen heihin
adessive hellä heillä
ablative heltä heiltä
allative helle heille
essive henä heinä
translative heksi heiksi
instructive hein
abessive hettä heittä
comitative heineen
Possessive forms of he (type rosé)
possessor singular plural
1st person heni hemme
2nd person hesi henne
3rd person hensä

German Low German[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Saxon , from Proto-Germanic *hiz (this, this one).

Pronunciation[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

he m (genitive sin, dative 1 em, dative 2 en, dative 3 jüm, accusative 1 em, accusative 2 en)

  1. (in some dialects, including, Münsterland, Mecklenburgisch, Western Pomeranian and Low Prussian, personal) he (third-person singular masculine pronoun)
    He ös to lat. (Low Prussian)
    He is too late.

Usage notes[edit]

  • Which dative is employed depends on dialect, not on function.
  • Some dialects might consider any of the inflected forms obsolete.

Further reading[edit]

  • G. Ungt, Twee Geschichten in Mönstersk Platt. Ollmanns Jans in de Friümde un Ollmanns Jans up de Reise, 1861. The text has dative em and accusative em and en, and on page 22 the author notes: "Hier und in vielen Fällen steht der Dativ em statt des Accusativ en (ihm statt ihn) nach der Bequemlichkeit, die sich diese Mundart erlaubt." (Here and in many other places stands the dative em instead of the accusative en ...)

Hadza[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

he

  1. to say, to tell
    Synonyms: î, hiyagga

Hawaiian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Article[edit]

he (indefinite)

  1. a, an
    he wahine au
    I am a woman
    he wahine kāna
    s/he has a wife

Ido[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

he (plural be-i)

  1. The name of the Latin script letter H/h.

See also[edit]


Japanese[edit]

Romanization[edit]

he

  1. Rōmaji transcription of (hiragana)
  2. Rōmaji transcription of (katakana)

Kholosi[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Cognate with Sindhi ھِي(, this).

Pronoun[edit]

he

  1. it (proximal)

References[edit]

  • Eric Anonby; Hassan Mohebi Bahmani (2014), “Shipwrecked and Landlocked: Kholosi, an Indo-Aryan Language in South-west Iran”, in Cahier de Studia Iranica xx[3], pages 13-36

Kikuyu[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Hinde (1904) records kuha as an equivalent of English give in “Jogowini dialect” of Kikuyu, listing also Swahili kupa, etc. as its equivalents.[1]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

he (infinitive kũhe)

  1. to give

Derived terms[edit]

(Proverbs)

Related terms[edit]

(Nouns)

References[edit]

  1. ^ Hinde, Hildegarde (1904). Vocabularies of the Kamba and Kikuyu languages of East Africa, pp. 26–27. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Armstrong, Lilias E. (1940). The Phonetic and Tonal Structure of Kikuyu, p. 361. Rep. 1967. (Also in 2018 by Routledge).

Lakota[edit]

Particle[edit]

he

  1. question-marking particle used by females in formal speech
    Mázaškaŋškaŋ tóna he?what time is it?

Usage notes[edit]

Informally, both men and women use this question-marking particle. When speaking formally, however, only women use it. In a formal setting, men use huwó, hwo, or huŋwó.

Synonyms[edit]


Mandarin[edit]

Romanization[edit]

he

  1. Nonstandard spelling of .
  2. Nonstandard spelling of .
  3. Nonstandard spelling of .
  4. Nonstandard spelling of .

Usage notes[edit]

  • English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

Maori[edit]

Article[edit]

he

  1. a, an, some: indefinite article

Middle English[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Old English , from Proto-West Germanic *hiʀ, from Proto-Germanic *hiz (this, this one).

Pronunciation[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

he (accusative him or hine, genitive his or hisen, possessive determiner his)

  1. Third-person singular masculine pronoun: he
  2. it; used also of inanimate objects
  3. (impersonal) Third-person singular impersonal pronoun: one; you
Usage notes[edit]

In addition to referring to male humans and animals, this pronoun was used for inanimate objects belonging to the masculine grammatical gender early in Middle English. As grammatical gender obsolesced, this pronoun continued to refer to inanimate objects.

Alternative forms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
See also[edit]

References[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From Old English hīe, . Compare þei.

Pronoun[edit]

he (accusative hem or he, genitive heres or heren, possessive determiner here)

  1. Third-person plural nominative pronoun: they
  2. Third-person plural accusative pronoun: them
Alternative forms[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Etymology 3[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

he

  1. Alternative form of heo (she)

Etymology 4[edit]

Interjection[edit]

he

  1. Alternative form of hey (hey)

Etymology 5[edit]

Noun[edit]

he

  1. Alternative form of heye (hedge)

Etymology 6[edit]

Adjective[edit]

he (comparative her, superlative hest)

  1. Alternative form of heigh (high)

Etymology 7[edit]

Verb[edit]

he (third-person singular simple present heth, present participle hende, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle hed)

  1. Alternative form of hyen (to go quickly)

Middle Low German[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Saxon

Pronunciation[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

  1. (third person singular masculine nominative) he

Declension[edit]


North Frisian[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

he

  1. Alternative form of hi

Old English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-West Germanic *hiʀ, from Proto-Germanic *hiz (this, this one).

Pronunciation[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

 m (accusative hine, genitive his, dative him)

  1. he
  2. it (when the thing being referred to is masculine)
  3. they (singular) (denotes someone of unknown gender)

Declension[edit]

Descendants[edit]


Old Saxon[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-West Germanic *hiʀ, from Proto-Germanic *hiz.

Pronoun[edit]

 m

  1. he

Declension[edit]

Descendants[edit]

  • German Low German: he

Portuguese[edit]

Verb[edit]

he

  1. Obsolete spelling of é

Romanian[edit]

Interjection[edit]

he

  1. Alternative form of hei

Scots[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English he, from Old English .

Pronunciation[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

he (third-person singular, masculine, nominative case; accusative him, reflexive himsel, possessive his)

  1. he

Spanish[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Arabic هَا(, behold!, lo!, look!).[1] Cognate to Galician eis and Portuguese eis.

Adverb[edit]

he

  1. (literary) here is
  2. (literary) behold (+ aquí)
Usage notes[edit]
  • Takes pronoun suffixes, e.g. heme (here I am), and is mostly used together with aquí, ahí, allí.
Derived terms[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Noun[edit]

he f (plural hes)

  1. he; the Hebrew letter ה

Etymology 3[edit]

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb[edit]

he

  1. Informal second-person singular () affirmative imperative form of haber.
  2. (Latin America) Informal second-person singular (voseo) affirmative imperative form of haber.
  3. First-person singular (yo) present indicative form of haber.

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]


Swedish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Related to häva.

Verb[edit]

he (present her, preterite hedde, supine hett, imperative he)

  1. (regional, colloquial) to put

Conjugation[edit]


Tokelauan[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Nuclear Polynesian *se. Cognates include Hawaiian he and Maori he.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈhe/
  • Hyphenation: he

Article[edit]

he

  1. Singular indefinite article; any, an

Derived terms[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  • R. Simona, editor (1986) Tokelau Dictionary[4], Auckland: Office of Tokelau Affairs, page 304

Turkish[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Noun[edit]

he (definite accusative heyi, plural heler)

  1. The name of the Latin-script letter H.

See also[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Particle[edit]

he

  1. Alternative form of ha

Interjection[edit]

he

  1. Alternative form of ha

Westrobothnian[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Old Norse þat n, from Proto-Germanic *þat (neuter of *sa (that)), from Proto-Indo-European *tód (neuter of *só (that)). Akin to English that.

Alternative forms[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): [he], [hɛ] (example of pronunciation)

Pronoun[edit]

he n (dative dy or di, genitive diss)

  1. (demonstrative) that
  2. (personal) it

Conjunction[edit]

he

  1. that
  2. as, when, simultaneously as
Usage notes[edit]

The prepositions å/a, fyri, i, ti, åt/at, /ve, fȯr, onna and unnär govern the accusative for direction, and dative for location or relation, while diss is used like the when comparing things.

Etymology 2[edit]

Contraction of hȯrä or hvo.

Adverb[edit]

he

  1. how
  2. what

Etymology 3[edit]

From Old Norse hefja, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną.

Alternative forms[edit]

Verb[edit]

he (present he or hev or häv, preterite hov, supine hyvi or hevi or hävi)

  1. put

Yoruba[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

he

  1. to come across, to come by
    Mo rí ẹ̀bùn he, mo sì bẹ̀rẹ̀ sí í ṣí i.I came across a gift and started to open it.
    • 1995?, “‘Níwọ̀n Bí A Ti Ní Iṣẹ́-òjíṣẹ́ Yìí, Àwa Kò Juwọ́sílẹ̀’”, in ÀKÁ ÌWÉ ORÍ ÍŃTÁNẸ́Ẹ̀TÌ ti Watchtower[5]:
      Ìṣòro mìíràn tí mo dojúkọ, yàtọ̀ sí ti èdè, ni àníyàn léraléra pé kí àwọn ọlọ́pàá má he mí.
      Another problem I faced, apart from the language, was the constant concern over being picked up by the police.
Usage notes[edit]
  • often used in a serial verb construction with .

Etymology 2[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

  1. (Ikalẹ) (transitive) Ikalẹ form of (to cook)
Usage notes[edit]
  • he when followed by a direct object.
Derived terms[edit]