what's-his-name

See also: whatshisname

English

Alternative forms

• what's-her-name (female)
• what's-his-face
• who's-his-face, who's-his-name
• what's-his-butt (North American slang, less common)

Pronoun

what's-his-name

1. A male person or entity whose name one does not remember or want to mention but that is known to the person to which one is speaking.
   • 1842, Robert Browning, Waring:

     I left his arm that night myself / For what's-his-name's, the new prose-poet / Who wrote the book there, on the shelf

   • 1885, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, composer, […] The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu, London: Chappel & Co., […], →OCLC:

     And 'St—'st—'st and What's-his-name, and also You-know-who— / The task of filling up the blanks I'd rather leave to you.

Synonyms

• you-know-who, so-and-so

Translations

A person or entity whose name one does not remember

• Arabic: مَا اِسْمَهُ m (mā ismahu)
• Dutch: jeweetwel, dinges (nl)
• French: Machin (fr) m (see machin (fr)), comment-qu’il-s’appelle m, c’est-quoi-son-nom m or f, trucmuche (fr) m or f, Tartempion (fr)
• German: Dingsda (de) m or f
• Hebrew: פלוני אלמוני (he)
• Italian: Coso (it) m
• Maori: mea
• Portuguese: fulano (pt) m
• Russian: ка́к его́ m (kák jevó), э́тот са́мый m (étot sámyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: (since it can refer to anything of any sex, it is one of the most common Serbo-Croatian buzzwords, some people using it in every other sentence) kak-se-zove
• Spanish: fulano (es) m, zutano (es) m, mengano (es) m
• Yiddish: האָצמאַך m (hotsmakh), יענער פּלוני m (yener ployne)

See also

• John Doe, Jane Doe