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whose. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
whose, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
whose in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
whose you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From Middle English whos, from Old English hwæs, from Proto-Germanic *hwes, genitive case of *hwaz (“who”) *hwat (“what”).
Pronunciation
Determiner
whose
- (interrogative) Of whom, belonging to whom; which person's or people's.
Whose wallet is this?
- (relative) Of whom, belonging to whom.
This is the man whose dog caused the accident.
(= This man's dog caused the accident.)
- Venus, whose sister Serena is, won the latest championship.
- Pat and Lou, whose house we visited last year
1922, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest:The most rapid and most seductive transition in all human nature is that which attends the palliation of a ravenous appetite. […] Can those harmless but refined fellow-diners be the selfish cads whose gluttony and personal appearance so raised your contemptuous wrath on your arrival?
- (relative) Of which, belonging to which.
We saw several houses whose rooves were falling off.
(= The rooves were falling off several houses that we saw.)
Derived terms
Translations
of whom (interrogative)
- Arabic: لِمَن (liman)
- Armenian: please add this translation if you can
- Belarusian: чый (čyj)
- Bulgarian: чий (čij)
- Catalan: de qui
- Chickasaw: kata
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 誰的/谁的 (zh) (shuí de, shéi de)
- Czech: čí (cs)
- Danish: hvis (da)
- Dutch: van wie, wiens (nl) m or n, wier (nl) f pl
- Esperanto: kies (eo)
- Estonian: kelle
- Finnish: kenen (fi)
- French: à qui
- Galician: de quen
- Georgian: ვისი (ka) (visi)
- German: wessen (de)
- Greek: ποιανού m or n (poianoú), ποιανής f (poianís), ποιανών m pl or f pl or n pl (poianón), τίνος (el) m or f or n (tínos)
- Ancient: τινῶν m pl or f pl or n pl (tinôn), τίνος m or f or n (tínos), τοῦ m or f or n (toû)
- Hebrew: שֶׁל מִי (shel mi)
- Hindi: किस का (kis kā), किसका (kiskā)
- Hungarian: kinek (a/az) …-a/-e/-ja/-je/-i/-ai/-ei/-jai/-jei? (only in adjectival/determiner's position; for the predicative/pronoun's position, see the other sense below)
- Ido: di qua (io)
- Irish: cé leis
- Italian: di chi
- Japanese: 誰の (ja) (だれの, dare no), どなたの (ja) (donata no) (honorific)
- Kazakh:
- Arabic: كىمنىڭ
- Cyrillic: кімнің (kımnıñ)
- Korean: 누구의 (ko) (nuguui), 누구 것 (nugu geot)
- Kyrgyz: кимдики (kimdiki), кимдин (kimdin)
- Latin: cuius (la) m or f or n, quorum (la) m pl or n pl, quarum (la) f pl
- Macedonian: чиј (čij)
- Malayalam: ആരുടെ (āruṭe)
- Mazanderani: کنی (kënê, këni)
- Mongolian:
- Classical Mongolian: ᠬᠡᠨ ᠦ (ken-ü)
- Cyrillic: хэний (xenii)
- Mongolian: ᠬᠡᠨ ᠦ (ken-ü)
- Navajo: háí bi-
- Norwegian: hvem sin, hvems, hvis (no)
- Old Church Slavonic:
- Cyrillic: чии (čii)
- Old English: hwæs
- Polish: czyj (pl)
- Portuguese: de quem (pt)
- Russian: чей (ru) (čej), че́йный (čéjnyj) (colloquial, nonstandard)
- Serbo-Croatian: чѝјӣ, čìjī
- Slovak: čí
- Slovene: čigáv (sl)
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: ceji
- Spanish: de quién (es)
- Swedish: vems (sv)
- Tamil: யாருடைய (yāruṭaiya)
- Turkish: kimin (tr)
- Tuvan: кымның (kımnıñ), кым (kım)
- Ukrainian: чий (čyj)
- Urdu: کس کا (kis kā)
- Vietnamese: của ai
- Volapük: kima
- Yakut: ким (kim)
- Yiddish: וועמענס (vemens)
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of whom (relative)
- Arabic: اَلَّذِي (ar) m (allaḏī), اَلَّتِي f (allatī), اَلَّذِينَ m pl (allaḏīna), اَللَّوَاتِي f pl (al-lawātī)
- Catalan: el subjecte del qual (ca), de qui (ca)
- Czech: jehož (cs) m or n jejíž (cs) f jejichž (cs) pl
- Danish: hvis (da)
- Dutch: van wie, wiens (nl) m or n, wier (nl) f pl
- Esperanto: kies (eo)
- Estonian: kelle
- Finnish: jonka (fi)
- French: de qui, dont (fr), duquel (fr) (de + lequel)
- Galician: de quen (gl), cuxo (gl) m
- Georgian: რომლის (romlis)
- German: dessen (de) m or n, deren (de) f pl
- Greek: του οποίου m or n (tou opoíou), της οποίας f (tis opoías), των οποίων m pl or f pl or n pl (ton opoíon)
- Ancient: οὗ m or n (hoû), ἧς f (hês), ὧν m or f or n (hôn), οἷν m du or n du (hoîn), αἷν f du (haîn)
- Hindi: जिसका (hi) (jiskā)
- Hungarian: akinek (a/az) …-a/-e/-ja/-je/-i/-ai/-ei/-jai/-jei
- Indonesian: yang (id), yang mana
- Irish: a (indirect relative followed by resumptive possessive pronoun)
- Italian: il cui (it)
- Kazakh:
- Arabic: كىمنىڭ
- Cyrillic: кімнің (kımnıñ)
- Latin: cuius (la) m or f or n, quorum (la) m pl or n pl, quarum (la) f pl
- Mongolian:
- Classical Mongolian: ᠬᠡᠨ ᠦ (ken-ü)
- Cyrillic: хэний (xenii)
- Mongolian: ᠬᠡᠨ ᠦ (ken-ü)
- Norwegian: hvis (no)
- Polish: który (pl) m
- Portuguese: cujo (pt) m, cuja (pt) f
- Romanian: cui (ro)
- Russian: чей (ru) (čej)
- Slovene: čígar (sl)
- Spanish: de quien (es), cuyo (es) m, cuya (es) f, cuyas f pl, cuyos (es) m pl
- Swedish: vars (sv)
- Tuvan: кымның (kımnıñ), кым (kım)
- Urdu: جس کا (jis kā)
- Yakut: ким (kim)
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of which (relative)
- Czech: jehož (cs) m or n jejíž (cs) f jejichž (cs) pl
- Danish: hvis (da)
- Dutch: waarvan (nl)
- Esperanto: kies (eo)
- Estonian: mille (et)
- Finnish: jonka (fi)
- French: dont (fr), duquel (fr) m, de laquelle (fr) f, desquels (fr) m pl, desquelles (fr) f pl
- Galician: cuxo (gl) m, cuxa f
- Georgian: რომლის (romlis)
- German: dessen (de) m or n, deren (de) f pl
- Hindi: जिसका (hi) (jiskā)
- Hungarian: aminek/amelynek (a/az) …-a/-e/-ja/-je/-i/-ai/-ei/-jai/-jei
- Interlingua: cuje
- Irish: a (ga) (indirect relative followed by resumptive possessive pronoun)
- Italian: il cui (it)
- Latin: cuius (la) m or f or n, quorum (la) m pl or n pl, quarum (la) f pl
- Norwegian: hvis (no)
- Polish: który (pl) m
- Portuguese: cujo (pt) m, cuja (pt) f, cujos (pt) m pl, cujas (pt) f pl
- Russian: кото́рого (ru) (kotórovo), чей (ru) (čej)
- Spanish: cuyo (es) m, cuya (es) f, cuyos (es) pl, cuyas f pl
- Swedish: vars (sv)
- Urdu: جس کا (jis kā)
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Pronoun
whose
- (interrogative) That or those of whom or belonging to whom.
Several people have lost their suitcases. Whose have you found?
- (relative) That or those of whom or belonging to whom.
- This car is blocking the way, but Mr Smith, whose it is, will be here shortly.
- 1833, Tait's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 3, page 637 (Google Books view):
- If he starts it on another man's lands, and kills it there, it belongs to the owner of the land; but if he start game on one man's lands, and pursue it to those of another, and kill it there, it is neither the property of the man on whose lands it is started, nor of him on whose it is killed, but belongs to the killer.
- 1895, Library Journal, Volume 20, page 397 (Google Books view):
- The notes on authors are extremely brilliant and incisive, not always in good perspective and sometimes freaky in their wit, as, for instance, the reference to Mrs. Holmes, of whose books it is said, "The secret of their long popularity has never been divulged by their readers," and Mrs. Harris, of whose it is said, "To a lively mind they should be conducive of profound sleep," which, whatever its faults, is by no means true of "Rutledge."
Translations
(interrogative) that or those of whom or belonging to whom
(relative) that or those of whom or belonging to whom
Contraction
whose
- Misspelling of who's.
Anagrams
Middle English
Pronoun
whose
- (chiefly Late Middle English) Alternative form of whos (“whose”, genitive)