he

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“
I do not know whether he is alive or dead, but I know this--he is dead to you."

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Definitions (36)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. pronoun Used to refer to the man or boy previously mentioned or implied.
  2. pronoun Used to refer to a male animal.
  3. pronoun Usage Problem Used to refer to a person whose gender is unspecified or unknown: "He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence” (William Blake).
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (26)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

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Examples (50)

  • But as we have seen, the Olympian stance of an Adorno has its problems too-he is so far removed from the phenomena he is analyzing that he ends up out of touch with them, unable to separate the wheat from the chaff. —  Claremont.org
  • A fine hold up player but not blessed with Keane's inventiveness - he'd have never come up with the he was a boyhood Liverpool fan story. —  Arseblog
  • It made no difference whether he was already in office, or getting ready to take the office, or even after he gave up the office - he was openly vilified to no end. —  BellaOnline - The Voice of Women
  • Whether he will be a champion again we can not say - he'll be racing against younger cyclists that have continued racing these past few years - we'll just have to wait and see. —  Running Advice and News
  • 'Gad! how like my poor brother he is about the eyes So Frank was started in life with a commission in the Light Dragoons, an extremely good opinion of himself, and as much of his ten thousand pounds as he had not already anticipated during the one term he spent at Oxford before he was rusticated. —  Kate Coventry An Autobiography
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Etymologies (4)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English, from Old English hē; see ko- in Indo-European roots.
  2. Hebrew hē, of Phoenician origin.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. The pron. of the 3d person, now commonly recognized only in the masculine singular, the plural being supplied by another word, and the associated feminine (possessive and obj.) her and the neuter it being commonly treated as separate words; but orig. complete in all genders and cases, presenting a typical form, and retaining still the most numerous characteristics of the ancient pronominal inflection, and for that reason, and in order to explain its involved forms clearly, exhibited here with some fullness. The native and other Teutonic forms are given in detail below in separate divisions; the typical form is the nominative singular masculine he, from Middle English he, from Anglo-Saxon hē = Old Saxon he, hi, hie = OFries. hi = Middle Low German he, Low German he, hei = Dutch hij = Gothic (Moesogothic) *his (found only in the masculine dative himma, accusative hina, neuter accusative hita) = Scandinavian (with a suffixed demonstrative particle), Icelandic hann = Swedish Danish han, he (Icelandic hinn, Swedish Danish hinn, hin, that, the other) (for other Teutonic forms, see below); Teutonic *hi, perhaps allied to L. hic (from √ *hi + -c, -ce, a demonstrative suffix), this, this one, and to Greek κεῑνος, ἐκεῑνος, that one, ἐκεῖ, there. A different root, not found in Anglo-Saxon and English (being apparently merged at an early period in that of he), appears in Old Saxon masculine genitive is, etc., neuter nominative it (genitive is) = Old High German MHG.G. masculine nominative er, Old High German Middle High German neuter ez, German es, it, = Gothic (Moesogothic) masculine is (genitive is, dative imma, accusative ina), feminine genitive izos, etc., neuter ita (genitive is, etc.) = Latin is, feminine ea, neuter id, he, she, it, that, = Sanskrit i, this, that: an Indo-European demonstrative pronominal root appearing also in various inflectional and deriv. suffixes. From the same Teutonic pronominal root *hi are derived here, hen (obsolete), hence, hethen (obsolete), hither. The feminine and plural forms of he began to fall away in the early part of the Middle English period, being replaced in part by forms from other stems: see she and they. The aspirate in he, her, him is commonly suppressed in ordinary pronunciation after an accented monosyllable or dissyllable, a suppression which prevails throughout in the case of it, orig. hit, but is not generally acknowledged in regard to the other forms except in intentional representations of colloquial or dialectal speech, as, I told 'im so, see if 'e's in, take 'em away, etc. In formal speech the aspirate is more carefully given.
  2. Hebrew hē.
 

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