hir

See also hir', and hír

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: hēr, IPA: /hiɹ/
• Homophones: here, hear

Pronoun

hir third-person singular, gender-neutral, objective case (reflexive hirself)

1. (neologism) them (singular). Gender-neutral third-person singular object pronoun, coordinate with him and her.
   • 1988, Jeffrey Carver, From a Changeling Star, New York: Bantam Books, ISBN 0-553-27639-5, OL 7824150M, page 232:

     But once the disorientation had passed, hir forced hirself back to full consciousness--and worked quickly to establish hir position, and Ruskin's.

   • 1996 June, Caitlin Sullivan; Bornstein, Kate, Nearly Roadkill: an Infobahn erotic adventure^[1], New York: Serpent's Tail, LCC PS3569.U3449 N43 1996, ISBN 978-1852424183, LCCN 95072971, OL 820831M, page 10:

     I don't know what Scratch looks like in the real world, I met hir online.

   • 1997 December 18, Kate Bornstein, My Gender Workbook: How to Become a Real Man, a Real Woman, the Real You, or Something Else Entirely^[2], London, New York: Routledge, LCC HQ1075.B69 1998, ISBN 978-0415916738, LCCN 98134184, OL 7495768M, page 130:

     Words like "freak" became attached to hir name, and I don't believe "brave" was ever a word the media associated with hir.

   • 2000 August 29, Peter David, Renaissance^[3], Star Trek New Frontier: Excalibur #10, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 978-0671042394, LCCN 2002555412, OL 3665551M, page 137:

     T'Pau leveled a gaze at hir. "You are male and female ... and neither. 'It' is the proper word. We have no use for semantic games on Vulcan."

Synonyms

• (singular) them
• (neologism) em, per

Hyponyms

• him, her

Derived terms

• (neologism) hirself

Adjective

hir (not comparable)

1. (neologism) Belonging to hir, their (singular). Gender-neutral third-person singular possessive adjective, coordinate with his and her.
   • 1988, Jeffrey Carver, From a Changeling Star, New York: Bantam Books, ISBN 0-553-27639-5, OL 7824150M, page 232:

     But once the disorientation had passed, hir forced hirself back to full consciousness--and worked quickly to establish hir position, and Ruskin's.

   • 1996 June, Caitlin Sullivan; Bornstein, Kate, Nearly Roadkill: an Infobahn erotic adventure, New York: Serpent's Tail, LCC PS3569.U3449 N43 1996, ISBN 9781852424183, LCCN 95072971, OL 820831M, page 13:

     It is here that Scratch has found hirself, bored out of hir mind but unable to sleep.

   • 2002, Frank Schaap, The Words That Took Us There: Ethnography in a Virtual Reality, Amsterdam: Aksant Academic Publishers, ISBN 9055891991, OL 17062341M, page 32:

     The player playing hir character in a MUD (usually) tries to portray a credible, convincing person within the theme of that world, using the tools that MUD provides, hir imagination, and hir social and communicative skills.

   • 2003, Susan Wright, Slave Trade, Slave Trade Trilogy #1, Pocket Books, ISBN 0743466853, OL 3283799M, page 17:

     The garment covered hir dual genitals, but hir slightly rounded breasts and smooth shoulders were revealed.

   • 2011 March 29, Jody Norton, “Transchildren and the Discipline of Children's Literature”, in Kenneth B. Kidd and Michelle Ann Abate editors, Over the Rainbow: Queer Children's and Young Adult Literature, University of Michigan, LCC PS374.H63 O84 2011, ISBN 9780472071463, page 305:

     "It's a scientific matter," Ludo announces, explaining hir very out transgender behavior (an ongoing source of embarrassment to hir would-be upwardly mobile parents) as the result of hir other X chromosome's having accidentally fallen into the trash on its way down from heaven.

   • 2011 May 19, Ken Wickham, The Other Genders: Androgyne, Genderqueer, Non-Binary Gender Variant^[4], CreateSpace, ISBN 9781461136620, page 7:

     Sie may feel that hir actual identity of hir gender is supposed to be both/neither male or female, outside of gender, third gender, beyond gender, absence of gender, mixing gender, changing gender, or all genders.

Synonyms

• (singular) their
• (neologism) eir

Hyponyms

• his, her

Derived terms

• (neologism) hirs

Usage notes

A declension shared by several gender-neutral pronoun schema. Subjective forms associated with hir include s/he, sie, shi, and ze. For additional considerations regarding use among members of the genderqueer community, see usage notes for ze.

See also

• other attested and proposed gender-neutral pronouns

---

Albanian

Etymology

From Proto-Albanian *hi̅r-. Cognate to Ancient Greek ἱερός (“holy”), Oscan aisusis (“sacrifice”).

Noun

hir m

1. grace, blessing, goodwill

---

Aromanian

Alternative forms

• hjir, hiru

Etymology

From Latin filum. Compare Daco-Romanian fir.

Noun

hir

1. thread

---

Baure

Alternative forms

• jir

Pronunciation

• IPA: /hir/

Noun

hir

1. man

---

Breton

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *sīro- (“long”) (compare Old Irish sír, Cornish hyr).

Adjective

hir

1. long

Antonyms

• berr

---

Latin

Alternative forms

• ir

Etymology

From Ancient Greek χείρ (kheir)

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA: /hir/

Noun

hir (indeclinable)

1. (rare) hand

Synonyms

• (hand): manus

---

Luxembourgish

Pronoun

hir

1. third-person feminine singular, dative: her, to her

   Ech schreiwen hir e Bréif

   I'm writing her a letter

Declension

Luxembourgish personal pronouns

	nominative		accusative		dative		reflexive
	str.	unstr.	str.	unstr.	str.	unstr.
1st person singular	ech	—	mech	—	mir	mer	mech
2nd person singular (informal)	du	de	dech	—	dir	der	dech
2nd person singular (formal)	Dir	—	Iech	—	Iech	—	Iech
3rd person singular (m)	hien	en	en	—	him	em	sech
3rd person singular (f)	si / hatt	se / et	si / hatt	se / et	hir / him	— / em	sech
3rd person singular (n)	et	't	et	't	him	em	sech
1st person plural	mir	mer	eis / ons	—	eis / ons	—	eis / ons
2nd person plural	dir	der	iech	—	iech	—	iech
3rd person plural	si	—	si	—	hinnen	–	sech

---

Middle English

Alternative forms

• hire

Pronoun

hir

1. (possessive) her (belonging to a female person)

Descendants

• English: her

---

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA: /xîːr/

Noun

hȋr m (Cyrillic spelling хи̑р)

1. whim, caprice

Declension

    declension of hir

	singular	plural
nominative	hȋr	hírovi
genitive	hira	hirova
dative	hiru	hirovima
accusative	hir	hirove
vocative	hire	hirovi
locative	hiru	hirovima
instrumental	hirom	hirovima

---

Welsh

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *sīro- (“long”) (compare Old Irish sír, Cornish hyr).

Adjective

hir

1. long

Synonyms

• hirfaith
• llaes
• maith