he

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Translingual

Symbol

he

  1. (international standards) ISO 639-1 language code for Hebrew.

English

Alternative forms

Etymology 1

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

Cognate with Scots he (he), North Frisian he, hi (he), Saterland Frisian hie (he), West Frisian hy (he), Dutch hij, ie (he), German Low German he (he), Middle High German her (he) Central Franconian (he), Gothic *𐌷𐌹𐍃 (*his, this).

Pronunciation

Pronoun

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, translated by John Florio, The Decameron, Containing an Hundred Pleaſant Nouels: Wittily Diſcourſed, Betweene Seuen Honourable Ladies, and Three Noble Gentlemen, 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, translated by H.L. Brækstad, 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
      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?
    • 2010, Tom Bingham, Baron Bingham of Cornhill, The Rule of Law, Penguin Books, →ISBN, Preface, page ix:
      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.
  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, 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.
Synonyms
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: 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

he

  1. (African-American Vernacular) Synonym of his

Noun

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

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

Pronunciation

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, 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.
  2. The name of the first letter of the Old South Arabian abjad.
Translations

See also

Further reading

Etymology 3

Interjection

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

Aukan

Cuniculus paca

Noun

he

  1. paca (large South and Central American rodent)

References

Breton

Etymology

Compare Welsh ei.

Determiner

he (requires spirant mutation)

  1. her
    he zadher father

Catalan

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Noun

he f (plural hes)

  1. he (fifth letter of various Semitic alphabets)

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

Verb

he

  1. first-person singular present indicative of haver

Classical Nahuatl

Etymology

A natural expression.

Pronunciation

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 .
  2. Misspelling of .

Esperanto

Pronunciation

Interjection

he

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

Derived terms

See also

Fasu

Noun

hẹ or hȩ́ (Fasu)

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

Synonyms

  • hi (Namumi)

References

Finnish

Etymology 1

From Proto-Finnic *hek, from Proto-Finno-Permic *sej. Cognates include Northern Sami sii, Erzya сынь (siń). The word is inflected as plural, but there is no plural marker in the nominative, except in dialects (het). See hän for more details on history of usage.

Pronunciation

Pronoun

he

  1. (personal) they (plural, only of people)
  2. (respectful) he, she, one, (singular) they (of a single human being, like hän)
  3. they (in indirect speech: referring to the subjects of the main clause, regardless of whether they are human beings or not, i.e. logophoric pronoun)
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).
Declension
  • Irregular (inflectional stem hei-, as if in the plural). The comitative and instructive forms don't exist; the abessive is hardly used.
  • In addition to the standard set of cases, he and other personal pronouns have a specific accusative form, heidät.
Synonyms
  • (dialectal): het
  • (dialectal): hyö
  • (colloquial): ne
Derived terms
Descendants
  • Kven: het

See also

Further reading

Etymology 2

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

Pronunciation

Noun

he

  1. he (fifth letter of the Hebrew and Phoenician scripts and the Northwest Semitic abjad)
Declension
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
abessive hettä heittä
instructive hein
comitative See the possessive forms below.
Possessive forms of he (Kotus type 21/rosé, no gradation)
first-person singular possessor
singular plural
nominative heni heni
accusative nom. heni heni
gen. heni
genitive heni heideni
heitteni
partitive hetäni heitäni
inessive hessäni heissäni
elative hestäni heistäni
illative heheni heihini
adessive helläni heilläni
ablative heltäni heiltäni
allative helleni heilleni
essive henäni heinäni
translative hekseni heikseni
abessive hettäni heittäni
instructive
comitative heineni
second-person singular possessor
singular plural
nominative hesi hesi
accusative nom. hesi hesi
gen. hesi
genitive hesi heidesi
heittesi
partitive hetäsi heitäsi
inessive hessäsi heissäsi
elative hestäsi heistäsi
illative hehesi heihisi
adessive helläsi heilläsi
ablative heltäsi heiltäsi
allative hellesi heillesi
essive henäsi heinäsi
translative heksesi heiksesi
abessive hettäsi heittäsi
instructive
comitative heinesi
first-person plural possessor
singular plural
nominative hemme hemme
accusative nom. hemme hemme
gen. hemme
genitive hemme heidemme
heittemme
partitive hetämme heitämme
inessive hessämme heissämme
elative hestämme heistämme
illative hehemme heihimme
adessive hellämme heillämme
ablative heltämme heiltämme
allative hellemme heillemme
essive henämme heinämme
translative heksemme heiksemme
abessive hettämme heittämme
instructive
comitative heinemme
second-person plural possessor
singular plural
nominative henne henne
accusative nom. henne henne
gen. henne
genitive henne heidenne
heittenne
partitive hetänne heitänne
inessive hessänne heissänne
elative hestänne heistänne
illative hehenne heihinne
adessive hellänne heillänne
ablative heltänne heiltänne
allative hellenne heillenne
essive henänne heinänne
translative heksenne heiksenne
abessive hettänne heittänne
instructive
comitative heinenne

German Low German

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle Low German , from Old Saxon , from Proto-West Germanic *hiʀ, from Proto-Germanic *hiz (this, this one).

Pronunciation

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, 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

  • 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 ...)

Hadza

Pronunciation

Verb

he

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

Hawaiian

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Article

he (indefinite)

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

Ido

Etymology

From h +‎ -e.

Pronunciation

Noun

he (plural be-i)

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

See also

Japanese

Romanization

he

  1. The hiragana syllable (he) or the katakana syllable (he) in Hepburn romanization.

Kholosi

Etymology

Cognate with Sindhi ھِي (, this).

Pronoun

he

  1. it (proximal)

References

  • 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 Swahili kupa, etc. as its equivalents.[1]

Pronunciation

Verb

he (infinitive kũhe)

  1. to give

Derived terms

(Proverbs)

(Nouns)

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?

Usage notes

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

Mandarin

Romanization

he (he5he0, Zhuyin ˙ㄏㄜ)

  1. Hanyu Pinyin reading of

he

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

Usage notes

  • 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.

Maori

Etymology

Cognate with Hawaiian he

Article

he

  1. a, an, some: indefinite article

See also

  • te (for "the" in singular)
  • ngā (for "the" in plural)

Middle English

Etymology 1

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

Pronunciation

Pronoun

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

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
Descendants
See also

References

Etymology 2

From Old English hīe, . Compare þei.

Pronoun

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
Descendants
See also
References

Etymology 3

Pronoun

he

  1. Alternative form of heo (she)

Etymology 4

Interjection

he

  1. Alternative form of hey (hey)

Etymology 5

Noun

he

  1. Alternative form of heye (hedge)

Etymology 6

Adjective

he (comparative her, superlative hest)

  1. Alternative form of heigh (high)

Etymology 7

Verb

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

Etymology

From Old Saxon .

Pronunciation

Pronoun

  1. (third person singular masculine nominative) he

Declension

North Frisian

Pronoun

he

  1. Alternative form of hi

Norwegian Nynorsk

Verb

he

  1. (dialectal, Trøndelag) alternative form of hev (have, has)
    E he ei bok om føgla. He hann løst å kjøp ho?
    I have a book about birds. Does he want to buy it? (literally "does he have desire to by her?")

Old English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Pronoun

 m (accusative hine, genitive his, dative him)

  1. he
    • 10th century, The Wanderer:
      Oft him ānhaga · āre gebīdeð,
      Metudes miltse, · þēah þe mōdċeariġ
      A loner oft waits a grace for himself,
      Creator's mercy, even if he is sorrowful
  2. it (when the thing being referred to is masculine)
  3. they (singular) (denotes someone of unknown gender)

Declension

Descendants

References

Old Saxon

Alternative forms

Etymology

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

Pronoun

 m

  1. he

Declension

Descendants

  • German Low German: he

Polish

Etymology

Onomatopoeic.

Pronunciation

Interjection

he

  1. (Near Masovian, often repeated) used to direct oxen to move forward
    Coordinate terms: byś, , kse

Further reading

  • 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

Portuguese

Verb

he

  1. Obsolete spelling of é.

Romanian

Interjection

he

  1. Alternative form of hei

Scots

Etymology

From Middle English he, from Old English .

Pronunciation

Pronoun

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

  1. he

Spanish

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

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

Adverb

he

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

Etymology 2

Noun

he f (plural hes)

  1. he; the Hebrew letter ה

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

he

  1. inflection of haber:
    1. first-person singular present indicative
    2. second-person singular imperative
    3. second-person singular voseo imperative

References

  1. ^ Joan Coromines, José A[ntonio] Pascual (1983–1991) “he”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critic Castilian and Hispanic Etymological Dictionary] (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos

Further reading

Swedish

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

IPA(key): /heː/

Etymology 1

Related to häva.

Verb

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

  1. (regional, colloquial, northern) to put
    Synonym: (Hälsingland region) häva
    He den på bordet
    Put it on the table
    Häv/He på stereon
    Put on the stereo (Hälsingland/further north)
Usage notes

Not widely known to native Swedish speakers. Primarily used in certain regions of Norrland in Sweden.

Conjugation

Etymology 2

Pronoun

he n

  1. (regional, Northern Sweden, Ostrobothnia) it
Usage notes

In Sweden, primarily used in the northern parts of norrland. In Finland, used in the northern part of Swedish-speaking Ostrobothnia.

See also

Tagalog

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Interjection

he! (Baybayin spelling ᜑᜒ)

  1. Alternative form of tse

Etymology 2

Noun

he (Baybayin spelling ᜑᜒ) (historical)

  1. Alternative spelling of ge

Anagrams

Tokelauan

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Article

he

  1. Singular indefinite article; any, an

Derived terms

See also

References

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

Turkish

Etymology 1

Noun

he (definite accusative heyi, plural heler)

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

See also

Etymology 2

Noun

he

  1. Letter of the Arabic alphabet: ه

Etymology 3

Particle

he

  1. Alternative form of ha

Interjection

he

  1. Alternative form of ha

Yanomamö

Alternative forms

Noun

he

  1. head

References

  • Lizot, Jacques (2004) Diccionario enciclopédico de la lengua yãnomãmɨ (in Spanish), Vicariato apostólico de Puerto Ayacucho, →ISBN

Yola

Pronoun

he

  1. Alternative form of hea
    • 1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY:
      Co thou; Co he.
      Quoth thou; Says he.
    • 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

Yoruba

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Verb

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:
      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
  • often used in a serial verb construction with .

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Verb

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