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[…]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.
"It was he we saw the tracks of down by Rausand hill."
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.
For more quotations using this term, see Citations:he.
(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?
First, to avoid the cumbrous ‘he or she’ and ‘his or hers’, and the ungrammatical ‘they’ when used in the singular, I have mostly stuck to saying ‘he’ or ‘his’. I hope that this will be understood in an unchauvinistic, gender-neutral way.
(personal, sometimes proscribed)It; an animal whose gender is unknown.
A genderless object regarded as masculine, such as certain stars or planets (e.g. Sun, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter) or certain ships.
1770, A Mathematical Miscellany in Four Parts, 3rd edition, page 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
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.
^ When Words Collide: A Media Writer's Guide to Grammar and Style (2007, →ISBN
^ The Pocket Wadsworth Handbook, 2009 MLA Update Edition→ISBN, page 81: 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.
1658, Thomas Browne, The Garden of Cyrus, Folio Society, published 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, Milorad Pavić, translated by Christina Pribićević-Zorić, Dictionary of the Khazars, Vintage, published 1989, page 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.
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."
“1. he”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2024-10-09
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 ...)
Eric Anonby, Hassan Mohebi Bahmani (2014) “Shipwrecked and Landlocked: Kholosi, an Indo-Aryan Language in South-west Iran”, in Cahier de Studia Iranica xx, pages 13-36
Kikuyu
Etymology
Hinde (1904) records kuha as an equivalent of English give in “Jogowini dialect” of Kikuyu, listing also Swahilikupa, etc. as its equivalents.[1]
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.
Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.
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.
1Used preconsonantally or before h. 2Early or dialectal. 3Dual pronouns are only sporadically found in Early Middle English; after that, they are replaced by plural forms. There are no third-person dual forms in Middle English. 4Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.
1Used preconsonantally or before h. 2Early or dialectal. 3Dual pronouns are only sporadically found in Early Middle English; after that, they are replaced by plural forms. There are no third-person dual forms in Middle English. 4Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.
Władysław Matlakowski (1891) “he”, in “Zbiór wyrazów ludowych dawnej ziemi czerskiej”, in Sprawozdania Komisyi Językowej Akademii Umiejętności, volume 4, Krakow: Drukarnia Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, page 372
1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 11, page 88:
W' vengem too hard, he zunk ee commane,
With venom too hard, he sunk his bat-club,
1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 12, page 88:
Licke a mope an a mile, he gazt ing a mize;
Like a fool in a mill, he looked in amazement;
1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 13, page 90:
He at nouth fade t'zey, llean vetch ee man,
He that knows what to say, mischief fetch the man,
1867, “CASTEALE CUDDE'S LAMENTATION”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 6, page 104:
He zide hea'de help mee udh o' hoan
He said he'd help me out of hand
References
Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 31