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هو. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
هو, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
هو in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
هو you have here. The definition of the word
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Arabic
Pronunciation
- (Standard Arabic) IPA(key): /hu.wa/
Etymology 1
From Proto-Semitic *šuʔa.
Pronoun
هُوَ • (huwa) m (genitive ـهُ (-hu) or ـهِ (-hi), accusative ـهُ (-hu) or ـهِ (-hi) or إِيَّاهُ (ʔiyyāhu))
- he (subject pronoun)
- (Sufism) Allah, God
- it (subject pronoun, referring to inanimate nouns of masculine gender)
- having a copulative force, usually inserted when both the مُبْتَدَأ (mubtadaʔ) and خَبَر (ḵabar) are definite.
اَلْوَقْت هُوَ اَلْمَال.- al-waqt huwa l-māl.
- Time is money.
- This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text
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Further reading
See also
Arabic personal pronouns
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Isolated nominative pronouns
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singular
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dual
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plural
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1st person
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أَنَا (ʔanā)
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نَحْنُ (naḥnu)
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2nd person
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m
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أَنْتَ (ʔanta)
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أَنْتُمَا (ʔantumā)
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أَنْتُمْ (ʔantum)
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f
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أَنْتِ (ʔanti)
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أَنْتُنَّ (ʔantunna)
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3rd person
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m
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هُوَ (huwa)
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هُمَا (humā)
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هُمْ (hum), هُمُ (humu)1
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f
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هِيَ (hiya)
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هُنَّ (hunna)
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Isolated accusative pronouns
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singular
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dual
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plural
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1st person
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إِيَّايَ (ʔiyyāya)
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إِيَّانَا (ʔiyyānā)
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2nd person
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m
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إِيَّاكَ (ʔiyyāka)
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إِيَّاكُمَا (ʔiyyākumā)
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إِيَّاكُم (ʔiyyākum)
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f
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إِيَّاكِ (ʔiyyāki)
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إِيَّاكُنَّ (ʔiyyākunna)
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3rd person
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m
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إِيَّاهُ (ʔiyyāhu)
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إِيَّاهُمَا (ʔiyyāhumā)
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إِيَّاهُمْ (ʔiyyāhum)
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f
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إِيَّاهَا (ʔiyyāhā)
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إِيَّاهُنَّ (ʔiyyāhunna)
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Enclitic accusative and genitive pronouns
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singular
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dual
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plural
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1st person
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ـنِي (-nī), ـنِيَ (-niya), ـي (-y), ـيَ (-ya)2
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ـنَا (-nā)
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2nd person
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m
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ـكَ (-ka)
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ـكُمَا (-kumā)
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ـكُم (-kum)
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f
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ـكِ (-ki)
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ـكُنَّ (-kunna)
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3rd person
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m
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ـهُ (-hu), ـهِ (-hi)3
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ـهُمَا (-humā), ـهِمَا (-himā)3
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ـهُم (-hum), ـهِم (-him)3
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f
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ـهَا (-hā)
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ـهُنَّ (-hunna), ـهِنَّ (-hinna)3
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1. هُمْ (hum) becomes هُمُ (humu) before the definite article الـ (al--). 2. Specifically, ـنِي (-nī, “me”) is attached to verbs, but ـِي (-ī) or ـيَ (-ya, “my”) is attached to nouns. In the latter case, ـيَ (-ya) is attached to nouns whose construct state ends in a long vowel or diphthong (e.g. in the sound masculine plural and the dual), while ـِي (-ī) is attached to nouns whose construct state ends in a short vowel, in which case that vowel is elided (e.g. in the sound feminine plural, as well as the singular and broken plural of most nouns). Furthermore, -ū of the masculine sound plural is assimilated to -ī before ـيَ (-ya) (presumably, -aw of masculine defective -an plurals is similarly assimilated to -ay). Prepositions use ـِي (-ī) or ـيَ (-ya), even though in this case it has the meaning of “me” rather than “my”. The sisters of inna can use either form (e.g. إِنَّنِي (ʔinnanī) or إِنِّي (ʔinnī)). 3. ـهِـ (-hi-) occurs after -i, -ī, or -ay, and ـهُـ (-hu-) elsewhere (after -a, -ā, -u, -ū, -aw).
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Etymology 2
From هُوَ (huwa, “it”), calqued from German Es, possibly through Latin id.
Noun
هُوَ • (huwa) m
- (psychology) id
Declension
Declension of noun هُوَ (huwa)
Singular
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singular invariable
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Indefinite
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Definite
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Construct
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Informal
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هُوَ huwa
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الْهُوَ al-huwa
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هُوَ huwa
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Nominative
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هُوَ huwa
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الْهُوَ al-huwa
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هُوَ huwa
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Accusative
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هُوَ huwa
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الْهُوَ al-huwa
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هُوَ huwa
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Genitive
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هُوَ huwa
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الْهُوَ al-huwa
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هُوَ huwa
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References
- Wehr, Hans (1979) “هو”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN
Bakhtiari
Etymology
From Old Persian 𐏃𐎠𐎢𐎺 (hauv), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *só (“name”). Cognate with Avestan 𐬵𐬀 (ha).
Noun
هو (ho)
- he, that
هو کجه بی؟- ho kojeh bi?
- Where was he?
Chadian Arabic
Etymology
From Arabic هُوَ (huwa).
Pronoun
هو • (hū) m
- he (subject pronoun)
Egyptian Arabic
Etymology
From Arabic هُوَ (huwa).
Pronunciation
Pronoun
هو • (húwwa) m
- he (subject pronoun)
See also
Egyptian Arabic personal pronouns
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singular
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plural
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1st person
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أنا (ʾana)
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إحنا (ʾiḥna)
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2nd person
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m
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إنت (ʾinta)
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إنتوا (ʾintu)
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f
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إنتي (ʾinti)
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3rd person
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m
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هو (huwwa)
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هم (humma, hum)
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f
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هي (hiyya)
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Hijazi Arabic
Etymology
From Arabic هُوَ (huwa).
Pronunciation
Pronoun
هو • (huwwa) m, enclitic form ـه (-u).
- he (subject pronoun)
- it (subject pronoun, referring to animals and inanimate nouns of masculine gender)
Khalaj
Noun
هَو (həv) (definite accusative هَوی, plural هَولَر)
- Arabic spelling of həv (“house”)
Declension
Moroccan Arabic
Etymology
From Arabic هُوَ (huwa).
Pronunciation
Pronoun
هو • (huwwa) m
- he (subject pronoun)
See also
North Levantine Arabic
Etymology
From Arabic هُوَ (huwa).
Pronoun
هو • (huwwe) m
- he (subject pronoun)
- Enclitic form: ـه (-o/-h)
See also
North Levantine Arabic personal pronouns
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Singular
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Plural
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1st person
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أنا (ʔana)
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نحنا (niḥna)
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2nd person
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m
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انت (ʔinta, ʔinte)
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انتو (ʔintu)
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f
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انتي (ʔinti)
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3rd person
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m
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هو (huwwe)
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هن (hinne) / هنن (hinnen)
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f
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هي (hiyye)
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Pashto
Pronunciation
Adverb
هو • (ho)
- yes
Persian
Etymology
Probably dialectal variant of هبر (habar, “pus”), from Proto-Indo-European *sab-, *sap-; cognate with English sap. Compare Kurdish ھەو (hew, “pus, inflammation”).
Noun
هو • (how)
- pus
Descendants
- Middle Armenian: հու (hu) (possibly)
References
- Steingass, Francis Joseph (1892) “هو”, in A Comprehensive Persian–English dictionary, London: Routledge & K. Paul
- Ačaṙean, Hračʻeay (1971–1979) “հու”, in Hayerēn armatakan baṙaran [Armenian Etymological Dictionary] (in Armenian), 2nd edition, a reprint of the original 1926–1935 seven-volume edition, Yerevan: University Press
- Martirosyan, Hrach (2010) Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 8), Leiden and Boston: Brill, page 421
Soqotri
Alternative forms
Etymology
Akin to Mehri (hû), Shehri (he).
Pronoun
هو (ho)
- I. first-person singular pronoun
2014, “The Story of the Makon”, in Vitaly Naumkin, compiler, Corpus of Soqotri Oral Literature, volume 1, page 66, line 12:عٞامٞر: دمنؤو أه؟ عامُر: هو رجدهي- ʕémər di-mənóʔo ɛ ʕö́mor ho rígdihi
- They asked: "Where are you from?" He said: "I am from Rigdiho."
References
- Naumkin, Vitaly, et al. (2014) “Glossary”, in Corpus of Soqotri Oral Literature, volume 1, Leiden: Brill, →DOI, →ISBN, page 549
- Naumkin, Vitaly, et al. (2018) “Glossary”, in Corpus of Soqotri Oral Literature, volume 2, Leiden: Brill, →DOI, →ISBN, page 470
- Leslau, Wolf (1938) “ho”, in Lexique Soqotri (sudarabique moderne) avec comparaisons et explications étymologiques (in French), Wiesbaden: Libraire C. Klincksieck, page 138
South Levantine Arabic
Etymology
From Arabic هُوَ (huwa).
Pronunciation
Pronoun
هو • (huwwe) m (enclitic form ـه (-o, -h))
- he (third-person masculine singular subject pronoun)
See also
South Levantine Arabic personal pronouns
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Singular
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Plural
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1st person
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أنا (ʔana)
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احنا (ʔiḥna)
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2nd person
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m
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انت (ʔinta)
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انتو (ʔintu)
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f
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انتي (ʔinti)
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3rd person
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m
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هو (huwwe)
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هم (homme)
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f
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هي (hiyye)
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Tunisian Arabic
Pronoun
هُوَّ (huwwa) m (f هي, pl هما)
- he (subject pronoun)