he
[hɪj]
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 6.69 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
2
Letters
1
Syllables
2
Unique Chars
Meaning
pron
They; he or she (a person whose gender is unknown or irrelevant).
pron
A genderless object regarded as masculine, such as certain stars or planets (e.g. Sun, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter) or certain ships.
det
Synonym of his.
Example Sentences
- "That friend of your cousin's, he's on the phone."
- "[…]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.""
- "In his letter of 5 March 1852 to Joseph Weydemeyer, Marx declares that it was not he who discovered the existence of classes or the class struggle […]"
- "July 18 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Riseshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/the-dark-knight-rises-review-batman,82624/ 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."
- "The rulebook clearly states that "if any student is caught cheating, he will be expelled", and you were caught cheating, were you not, Anna?"
Etymology
From Middle English he, from Old English hē, 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 hä (“he”), Gothic *𐌷𐌹𐍃 (*his, “this”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: he, hē, *hiʀ, *hiz, *ḱís, -
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: [hɪj]
- British English: [hiː]
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Religion.