who

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“
Ned Parker (Los Angeles Times) interviewed Massoud Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Regional Government (not to be confused with President Jalal Talabani -- who is Kurdish and from the KRG but is president of Iraq).

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Definitions (24)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. pronoun What or which person or persons: Who left?
  2. pronoun Used as a relative pronoun to introduce a clause when the antecedent is a person or persons or one to whom personality is attributed: the visitor who came yesterday; our child, who is gifted; informed sources who denied the story.
  3. pronoun The person or persons that; whoever: Who believes that will believe anything.
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Examples (50)

  • I knew Spaniards on this Island of Hispaniola who were accustomed to take them, who, on being reproved for it as a vice, replied that it was not in their power (in their hand) to leave off taking them. —  The life of Christopher Columbus: from his own letters and journals and other documents of his time.
  • I think I had rather be a vagrant, with a crust in my knapsack, a blue sky above me, and the adventurous road before me, than look upon the world with a pair of eyes so laughterless as his who was our host that night. —  The Quest of the Simple Life
  • Outside, in the street, and all around the prison gates, knelt the weeping people, fervently praying, and earnestly invoking the Almighty and His saints for her who was about to lay down her young life in their behalf. —  Joan of Arc
  • C.B. had a brother who was an actor, Peter Courtney. —  Shroud for a Nightingale
  • A. H. was a teacher who was at Cowan Bridge during the time of the residence of the little Brontës there In July 1824 the Rev. Mr. Brontë arrived at Cowan Bridge with two of his daughters, Maria and Elizabeth, 12 and 10 years of age. —  Charlotte Bronte and Her Circle
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old English hwā; see kwo- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English who, wha, wo, qwo, quo, qwa, qva, hwo, hoo, ho (genitive whos, whas, whes, quos, hwas, hwes, hwos, hos, wos, dative whom, wham, whæm, wam, hwam, accusative whan, wan, hwan), from Anglo-Saxon hwā (genitive hwæs, dative hwām, hwæm, accusative hwone, instrumental hwī, hwy¯ (see why)) = Old Saxon hvē = OFries. hwā, wā = Low German we, wer = Dutch wie = Old High German Middle High German wer, German wer = Icelandic hverr, hver = Swedish hvem = Danish hvem, hvo = Gothic (Moesogothic) hwas, masculine, hwo, feminine (genitive hwis, masculine, hwizos, feminine, dative hwamma, masculine, hwizai, feminine, accusative hwana, masculine, hwo, feminine, instrumental hwē, plural hwai, etc.), who, = Irish Gaelic co = Welsh pwy = Russian kto, chto, who, what, = Lithuanian kas, who, = Latin quis, masculine, quæ, feminine, quid, neuter, who, = Greek *πόσ, *κός (in deriv. ποῦ, where, etc., πότερος, κότερος, whether) = Sanskrit kas, who (accusative kam, whom). For the neuter, see what. From this root are ult. when, whence, where, whether, which, whither, why, how, and (from the L. root) quiddity, quality, quantity, etc. Who, which, what were orig. only interrogative pronouns; which, whose, whom occur regularly and usually as relatives as early as the end of the 12th century, but who not until the 14th century.
 

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