he

See also: Appendix:Variations of "he"

English

Alternative forms

Etymology 1

From Middle English he, from Old English hē, from Proto-Germanic *hiz (“this, this one”).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) enPR: hē, IPA(key): /ˈhiː/, (unstressed) IPA(key): /hi/, /i/
  • (US) enPR: hē, IPA(key): /hi/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio (UK)(file)
  • Rhymes: -iː

Pronoun

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

  1. (personal) A male person or animal already known or implied.
    • July 18 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Rises
      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.
  2. (personal, sometimes proscribed, see usage notes) 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) An animal whose gender is unknown.
Usage notes
  • 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 in their work, use the singular they, or rephrase their sentences to use plural they.
Synonyms
  • (person whose gender is unknown): he or she, he/she, s/he, they, or these other third-person pronouns
  • (animal whose gender is unknown): it

Determiner

he

  1. (African American Vernacular) Synonym of his
Quotations
  • For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:he.
Derived terms
Translations
See also
References
  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.

Noun

he (plural hes)

  1. (uncountable) The game of tag, or it, in which the player attempting to catch the others is called "he".
  2. (informal) A male.
    Alex totally is a he.

Etymology 2

Transliteration of various Semitic letters, such as Phoenician 𐤄‎ (h), Hebrew ה‎ (h) and Syriac ܗ‎ (h, “hē”).

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /heɪː/

Noun

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.
Translations
See also
  • Appendix:Hebrew alphabet
Further reading

Anagrams

Aukan

Noun

he

  1. paca (large South and Central American rodent)

References

Breton

Etymology

Compare Welsh ei.

Determiner

he

  1. her
    he zad ― her father

Catalan

Alternative forms

Verb

he

  1. first-person singular present indicative form of haver

Classical Nahuatl

Etymology

A natural expression.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [é]

Interjection

he

  1. an expression of physical pain; ouch.

References

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

Danish

Interjection

he

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

See also

Dutch

Interjection

he

  1. Misspelling of hè.
  2. Misspelling of hé.

Esperanto

Interjection

he

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

Derived terms

  • he ho

See also

Fasu

Noun

hẹ or hȩ́ (Fasu)

  1. water
  2. river
    he Aiyo : the River Aiyo
  3. lake
    he Kutupu : Lake Kutubu
  4. liquid

Synonyms

  • hi (Namumi)

References

Finnish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈhe/
  • Rhymes: -e
  • Hyphenation: he
  • (file)

Pronoun

he

  1. (personal) they (always plural, only of people).

Usage notes

  • 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

Declension of he
noun case singular plural
nominative hän he
genitive hänen heidän
partitive häntä heitä
accusative hänet heidät
inessive hänessä heissä
elative hänestä heistä
illative häneen heihin
adessive hänellä heillä
ablative häneltä heiltä
allative hänelle heille
essive hänenä heinä
translative häneksi heiksi
instructive – –
abessive hänettä heittä
comitative – –

Synonyms

  • (dialectal): het
  • (dialectal): hyö
  • (colloquial): ne

See also

German Low German

Alternative forms

  • (in other dialects, including Mecklenburgisch Western Pomeranian and Low Prussian) hei
  • (in other dialects, including Sauerländisch) hai
  • hee

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /hɛɪ̯/

Pronoun

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

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

Usage notes

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

Further reading

  • 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 ...)

Hawaiian

Article

he (indefinite)

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

Ido

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /he/, /hɛ/

Noun

he (plural be-i)

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

See also

Japanese

Romanization

he

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

Kikuyu

Etymology

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

  • IPA(key): /hɛ/

Verb

he (infinitive kũhe)

  1. to give

Derived terms

(Proverbs)

  • mwana ndaheanagwo

(Nouns)

  • kĩhe(e)o class 7
  • maheeo class 6

References

  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

Particle

he

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

Synonyms

Mandarin

Romanization

he

  1. Nonstandard spelling of hē.
  2. Nonstandard spelling of hé.
  3. Nonstandard spelling of hě.
  4. Nonstandard spelling of hè.

Usage notes

  • 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

Article

he

  1. a, an, some: indefinite article

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology 1

From Old English hē, from Proto-Germanic *hiz (“this, this one”).

Pronoun

he (accusative him, hine, genitive his, 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

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.

Descendants
  • Scots: he
  • English: he

References

Alternative forms

Etymology 2

From Old English hīe, hī.

Pronoun

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

  1. Third-person plural nominative pronoun: they
  2. Third-person plural accusative pronoun: them
See also

References

Etymology 3

Pronoun

he

  1. Alternative form of heo

References

Middle Low German

Etymology

From Old Saxon hē, from Proto-Germanic *hiz.

Pronunciation

  • Stem vowel: ê⁴
    • (originally) IPA(key): /heː/

Pronoun

hê

  1. (third person singular masculine nominative) he

Declension

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *hiz (“this, this one”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /heː/

Pronoun

hē m (accusative hine, genitive his, dative him)

  1. he (masculine nominative singular)

Declension

Descendants

  • Middle English: he
    • Scots: he
    • English: he

Old Saxon

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *hiz.

Pronoun

hē m

  1. he

Declension

Descendants

  • German Low German: he

Portuguese

Verb

he

  1. Obsolete spelling of é

Scots

Etymology

From Middle English he, from Old English hē, from Proto-Germanic *hiz (“this, this one”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /hi/, /hɪ/
  • Rhymes: -iː

Pronoun

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

  1. he

Spanish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /e/, [e̞]
  • Homophones: hé, e
  • Rhymes: -e

Etymology 1

From Arabic هَا‎ (hā); related to Portuguese eis.

Adverb

he

  1. (poetic, dated) here is
Usage notes
  • Takes pronoun suffixes, e.g. heme (“here I am”), and is mostly used together with aquí, ahí, allí.
See also

Etymology 2

Noun

he f (plural hes)

  1. he; the Hebrew letter ה

Etymology 3

See etymology on the main entry.

Verb

he

  1. First-person singular (yo) present indicative form of haber.

Swedish

Etymology

Related to häva.

Verb

he

  1. (regional, colloquial) to put

Turkish

Etymology 1

Noun

he (definite accusative heyi, plural heler)

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

See also

Etymology 2

Particle

he

  1. Alternative form of ha

Interjection

he

  1. Alternative form of ha

Westrobothnian

Etymology 1

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

Pronunciation

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

Pronoun

he n (dative dy or di, genitive diss)

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

Conjunction

he

  1. that

Usage notes

Words like åt/ât, wä/ve and fȯr govern the dative, while only dill governs the genitive äs, while diss is used like the when comparing things.

Etymology 2

Contraction of hȯrä or hvo.

Adverb

he

  1. how
  2. what

Etymology 3

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

Alternative forms

Verb

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

  1. put
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