his

See also: His and hís

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English his, from Old English his (“his; its”), from Proto-Germanic *hes (“of this”), genitive of Proto-Germanic *hiz (“this, this one”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-, *ḱey- (“this”). Cognate with Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic hans (“his”). More at he; see also its.

Alternative forms

• His (honorific)

Pronunciation

• (stressed)
  • (UK, US, Canada, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈhɪz/
  • (General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈhɘz/
• (unstressed)
  • IPA^(key): /ɪ̈z/
  • (weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /əz/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪz

Determiner

his

1. Belonging to him. [from 8th c.]
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for VVilliam Ponsonby, OCLC 932900760, book IIII, canto I, stanza 41:

     With that he put his ſpurres vnto his ſteed, / With ſpeare in reſt, and toward him did fare, / Like ſhaft out of a bow preuenting ſpeed.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., OCLC 222716698, page 46:

     No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.

   • 2011 April 8, Xan Rice, “Ivory Coast: 100 more bodies found as ethnic tensions rise”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     In his first televised address since the siege in Abidjan began this week, Ouattara said he would focus on returning the country to normal to ease the plight of civilians.

2. (dated) Belonging to a person of unspecified gender.
   • 1748, David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals

     On the contrary, those other passions, commonly denominated selfish, both produce different sentiments in each individual, according to his particular situation […]

3. (obsolete) Its; belonging to it. (Now only when implying personification.) [11th-17th c.]
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, “Of Drunkennesse”, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821, page 200:

     My ſtomacke could not well reach ſo farre: it is very much troubled to come to an end of that which it takes for his neede.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Matthew 5:13, column 1:

     Yee are the ſalt of the earth: But if the ſalt haue loſt his ſauour, wherewith ſhall it bee ſalted?

4. (archaic) Used as a genitive marker in place of ’s after a noun, especially a masculine noun ending in -s, to express the possessive case. [from 11th c.]

   Ahab his mark

   for Ahab's mark.

   Sejanus his Fall

Usage notes

• When followed by a noun, it is sometimes referred to as a possessive adjective, qualifying the following noun. It is, however, the possessive case of the personal pronoun he.
• (fourth sense) See His genitive on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Translations

attributive: belonging to him

• Albanian: tij (sq)
• American Sign Language: FlatB@Chesthigh-FingerUp
• Arabic: ـهُ‎ (ar) (-hu), (possessive pronoun) لَه‎ (lah)

  Egyptian Arabic: ـه‎ (-u), (Possessive Pronoun) ليه‎ (li) بتاعو‎ m (betaʿo) بتاعتو‎ f (betaʿto) بتوعو‎ pl (betoʿo)

• Armenian: նրա (hy) (nra)

  Old Armenian: նորա (nora)

• Aromanian: seu, (a) lui
• Asturian: so (ast)
• Bahamian Creole: he own
• Belarusian: яго́ (jahó), (common, colloquial) яго́ны (jahóny), (own, generic) свой (svoj)
• Bikol Central: saiya (before a noun); niya (after a noun)
• Breton: e (br)
• Bulgarian: не́гов (négov), свой (svoj) (own, generic)
• Burmese: သူ့ (su.)
• Catalan: seu (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 他的 (zh) (tā de)

• Coptic: ⲡⲉϥ m (pef), ⲧⲉϥ f (tef), ⲛⲉϥ m pl or f pl (nef)
• Czech: jeho (cs), svůj (cs) (own, generic)
• Danish: hans (da)
• Dutch: zijn (nl) m
• Egyptian: (.f)
• Esperanto: lia (eo)
• Estonian: tema (et), ta (et)
• Finnish: hänen (fi)
• French: son (fr) m, sa (fr) f, ses (fr) pl
• Friulian: so, sô
• Galician: seu (gl) m, súa f, seus m pl, súas f pl
• German: sein (de) m, n, seine (de) f, seine (de) pl

  Alemannic German: siin m, sini f, siis n

• Gothic: 𐍃𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 (seins)
• Greek: του (el) m (tou)

  Ancient: (genitive of personal pronoun) αὐτοῦ (autoû); (medial, proximal, distal demonstrative) τούτου (toútou), τοῦδε (toûde), ἐκείνου (ekeínou); (Epic demonstrative) τοῦ (toû); (Epic possessive adjective) ὅς (hós), ἑός (heós)

• Greenlandic: uuma
• Hawaiian: kona, kāna
• Hebrew: שלו‎ (he) (shello)
• Hindi: उसका (uskā), इसका (iskā), उनका (hi) (unkā) (formal)
• Hungarian: -a (hu), -e, -ja, -je
• Ido: ilua (io)
• Interlingua: su
• Irish: a (ga)
• Italian: suo (it) m, sua (it) f, suoi (it) pl, sue (it) f pl
• Japanese: 彼の (ja) (かれの, kare no)
• Kalmyk: энүнә (enünä), терүнә (terünä)
• Korean: 그의 (ko) (geuui)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: wî (ku)

• Latin: suus (la), eius (la), illius
• Latvian: viņa (lv)
• Lithuanian: savas
• Lower Sorbian: jogo
• Luxembourgish: säi, senger
• Macedonian: негов (negov), свој (svoj) (own, generic)
• Maltese: tiegħu, tagħhom pl
• Maori: tāna (singular dominant), tōna (singular subordiante), āna (plural dominant), ōna (plural subordinate), tana (singular neutral and informal), ana (plural neutral or informal)
• Navajo: bi-
• Ngarrindjeri: kinauwe
• Norwegian: hans (no), sin (no) (own, generic)
• Novial: lon
• Nyunga: balup
• Occitan: seu (oc), seuna (oc)
• Ojibwe: o-
• Oriya: ତାର (or) (tarô)
• Persian: او‎ (fa) (u)
• Pipil: i-
• Polish: jego (pl), swój (pl)
• Portuguese: seu (pt)
• Romanian: său (ro) m, sa f, săi pl, sale (ro) f pl, lui (ro)
• Romansch: ses, sia
• Russian: его́ (ru) (jevó), свой (ru) (svoj) (own, generic)
• Scottish Gaelic: a
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: њѐгов, сво̑ј (own, generic)

  Roman: njègov, svȏj (sh) (own, generic)

• Slovak: jeho (sk), svoj (own, generic)
• Slovene: njegôv (sl), svój (own, generic)
• Spanish: su (es) sg, sus (es) pl
• Swedish: hans (sv), (reflexive) sin (sv)
• Telugu: (informal) వాడి (te) (vāḍi), అతని (atani), (formal) ఆయన (te) (āyana)
• Thai: ของเขา (kɔ̌ɔng kǎo)
• Tigrinya: ናቱ m (natu)
• Tlingit: du
• Turkish: onun (tr)
• Ukrainian: його́ (uk) (johó), свій (svij) (own, generic)
• Upper Sorbian: jeho
• Urdu: اس کا‎ (us ka, is ka), (formal) ان کا‎ (un ka)
• Vietnamese: của anh ấy, của nó, của hắn
• Volapük: omik (vo)
• Waray-Waray: iya,ira pl
• West Frisian: syn (fy)
• Zulu: possessive concord + -khe 1 (most common), -wo 3, -lo 5, -so 7, -yo 9, -lo 11

See also

English personal pronouns

			personal pronoun			possessive pronoun	possessive determiner
			subjective	objective	reflexive
first person	singular		I me (colloquial)	me	myself me mysen	mine	my mine (before vowels, archaic) me
	plural		we	us	ourselves ourself oursen	ours	our
second person	singular	standard, formal	you	you	yourself yoursen	yours yourn (obsolete outside dialects)	your
		archaic, informal	thou	thee	thyself theeself thysen	thine	thy thine (before vowels)
	plural	standard	you ye (archaic)	you	yourselves	yours yourn (obsolete outside dialects)	your
		colloquial	you all y'all you guys	you all y'all you guys	–	y'all's you guys's your guys's (proscribed)	y'all's your all's (nonstandard) you guys's your guys's (proscribed)
		informal / dialectal	(see list of dialectal forms at you and inflected forms in those entries)
third person	singular	masculine	he	him	himself hisself (archaic) hissen	his hisn (obsolete outside dialects)	his
		feminine	she	her	herself hersen	hers hern (obsolete outside dialects)	her
		neuter	it hit	it hit	itself hitself	its his (archaic)	its his (archaic) hits
		genderless	they	them	themself, themselves	theirs	their
		genderless, nonspecific (formal)	one	one	oneself	–	one's
	plural		they	them hem, 'em	themselves theirsen	theirs theirn (obsolete outside dialects)	their

Pronoun

his

1. That which belongs to him; the possessive case of he, used without a following noun.

   The decision was his to live with.

2. Alternative spelling of His

Translations

that which belongs to him

• American Sign Language: FlatB@Chesthigh-FingerUp
• Armenian: իր (hy) (ir)
• Azerbaijani: onunku, onun
• Bikol Central: saiya
• Catalan: el seu m, la seva f, els seus pl, les seves f pl
• Coptic:

  Bohairic: ⲫⲱϥ m (phōf), ⲑⲱϥ f (thōf), ⲛⲟⲩϥ pl (nouf)

  Sahidic: ⲡⲱϥ m (pōf), ⲧⲱϥ f (tōf), ⲛⲟⲩϥ pl (nouf)

• Czech: jeho (cs)
• Danish: hans (da)
• Dutch: de zijne, aan hem
• Egyptian: (pꜣy.f m), (tꜣy.f f), (nꜣy.f pl)
• Esperanto: lia (eo)
• Finnish: hänen (fi)
• French: le sien (fr) m, la sienne (fr) f, les siens (fr) pl, les siennes (fr) f pl
• German: ^{(please verify)} sein (de)
• Greek: δικός του (el) m (dikós tou), δικιά του f (dikiá tou), δική του (el) f (dikí tou), δικό του (el) n (dikó tou), δικοί του (el) m pl (dikoí tou), δικές του (el) f pl (dikés tou), δικά του (el) n pl (diká tou)

• Hebrew: שלו‎ (he), שלו‎ (he) (shelo)
• Hungarian: ^{(please verify)} az övé (hu)
• Ido: ilua (io)
• Latin: eius (la), suus (la), illius, huius (la)
• Latvian: viņa (lv), viņējs, viņējais
• Norwegian: hans (no)
• Novial: lon, de lo
• Portuguese: dele (pt)
• Romanian: al lui (ro) m, al său (ro) m, a sa f, ai săi m pl, ale sale (ro) f pl
• Russian: его́ (ru) (jevó)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: њѐгов, сво̑ј

  Roman: njègov, svȏj (sh)

• Shor: ааң
• Slovak: jeho (sk)
• Slovene: njegôv (sl)
• Spanish: suyo (es) m sg, suya (es) f sg, suyos (es) m pl, suyas (es) f pl
• Swedish: hans (sv)
• Tuvan: ооңуу (ooñuu)
• Yakut: киниэнэ (kiniene)

See also

• he
• her
• hers
• him
• hisn

Etymology 2

Noun

his

1. plural of hi
   • 2009, John M. Carney, Welcome to Tranquility:

     The Hikkams pushed a table over by the booth where the Lochwoods and Meekums were sitting, exchanged his and sat down.

Anagrams

• -ish, IHS, Ish, Shi, ish, shi

---

Azerbaijani

Other scripts
Cyrillic		һис
Roman		his
Perso-Arabic		حیس‎

Etymology

From Proto-Turkic *ïjs (“smell, odour”). Cognate with Chuvash йӑс (jăs)

Noun

his (definite accusative hisi, plural hislər)

1. soot, (black) smoke, fume

   Synonym: qurum

Declension

Declension of his

	singular	plural
nominative	his	hislər
definite accusative	hisi	hisləri
dative	hisə	hislərə
locative	hisdə	hislərdə
ablative	hisdən	hislərdən
definite genitive	hisin	hislərin

Possessive forms of his

	nominative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	hisim	hislərim
sənin (“your”)	hisin	hislərin
onun (“his/her/its”)	hisi	hisləri
bizim (“our”)	hisimiz	hislərimiz
sizin (“your”)	hisiniz	hisləriniz
onların (“their”)	hisi or hisləri	hisləri
	accusative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	hisimi	hislərimi
sənin (“your”)	hisini	hislərini
onun (“his/her/its”)	hisini	hislərini
bizim (“our”)	hisimizi	hislərimizi
sizin (“your”)	hisinizi	hislərinizi
onların (“their”)	hisini or hislərini	hislərini
	dative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	hisimə	hislərimə
sənin (“your”)	hisinə	hislərinə
onun (“his/her/its”)	hisinə	hislərinə
bizim (“our”)	hisimizə	hislərimizə
sizin (“your”)	hisinizə	hislərinizə
onların (“their”)	hisinə or hislərinə	hislərinə
	locative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	hisimdə	hislərimdə
sənin (“your”)	hisində	hislərində
onun (“his/her/its”)	hisində	hislərində
bizim (“our”)	hisimizdə	hislərimizdə
sizin (“your”)	hisinizdə	hislərinizdə
onların (“their”)	hisində or hislərində	hislərində
	ablative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	hisimdən	hislərimdən
sənin (“your”)	hisindən	hislərindən
onun (“his/her/its”)	hisindən	hislərindən
bizim (“our”)	hisimizdən	hislərimizdən
sizin (“your”)	hisinizdən	hislərinizdən
onların (“their”)	hisindən or hislərindən	hislərindən
	genitive
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	hisimin	hislərimin
sənin (“your”)	hisinin	hislərinin
onun (“his/her/its”)	hisinin	hislərinin
bizim (“our”)	hisimizin	hislərimizin
sizin (“your”)	hisinizin	hislərinizin
onların (“their”)	hisinin or hislərinin	hislərinin

---

Danish

Noun

his n

1. indefinite genitive singular of hi

---

Finnish

Etymology

From German His (German key notation).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhis/, [ˈhis̠]
• Rhymes: -is
• Syllabification: his

Noun

his

1. (music) B-sharp

Usage notes

Capitalized for the great octave or any octave below that, or in names of major keys; not capitalized for the small octave or any octave above that, or in names of minor keys.

Declension

Inflection of his (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)
nominative		his	hisit
genitive		hisin	hisien
partitive		hisiä	hisejä
illative		hisiin	hiseihin
		singular	plural
nominative		his	hisit
accusative	nom.	his	hisit
	gen.	hisin
genitive		hisin	hisien
partitive		hisiä	hisejä
inessive		hisissä	hiseissä
elative		hisistä	hiseistä
illative		hisiin	hiseihin
adessive		hisillä	hiseillä
ablative		hisiltä	hiseiltä
allative		hisille	hiseille
essive		hisinä	hiseinä
translative		hisiksi	hiseiksi
instructive		—	hisein
abessive		hisittä	hiseittä
comitative		—	hiseineen

Possessive forms of his (type risti)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	hisini	hisimme
2nd person	hisisi	hisinne
3rd person	hisinsä

---

Latin

Pronoun

hīs

1. dative masculine plural of hic
2. dative feminine plural of hic
3. dative neuter plural of hic
4. ablative masculine plural of hic
5. ablative feminine plural of hic
6. ablative neuter plural of hic

---

Middle English

Alternative forms

• hys, hise, hyse, hiss, hisse, hyss, hysse, hijs, is, ys, isse, hes, hese, hesse, es, heis, heys, hus

Etymology 1

From Old English his, from Proto-Germanic *hes (“of this”), genitive of Proto-Germanic *hiz (“this, this one”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-, *ḱey- (“this”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /his/
• (mainly when unstressed) IPA^(key): /iz/

Determiner

his (nominative pronoun he)

2. Third-person singular masculine genitive determiner: his, of him.
3. Third-person singular neuter genitive determiner: its, of it.
4. Used in place of the possessive suffix -es to denote possession by an antecedent noun.
   • 1470, Thomas Malory, Works.

     And Claudas his knyghts brake theire spearis

Descendants

• English: his

Pronoun

his (nominative he)

2. Third-person singular masculine genitive pronoun: his.

Synonyms

• hisen

Descendants

• English: his

References

• “his, pron.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
• “his, pron.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Alternative forms

• hys, hise, is, ys, hies, hes, es, as

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /his/
• (mainly when unstressed) IPA^(key): /iz/

Pronoun

his (nominative heo)

2. Third-person singular feminine genitive determiner: her, of her.

Synonyms

• hire

References

• “hir(e), pron.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

---

Navajo

Alternative forms

• xis (in older Americanist literature)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [xɪ̀s]

Noun

his

1. pus

Inflection

possessives of his

	singular	duoplural	plural
1st person	shihis	nihihis	danihihis
2nd person	nihis	nihihis	danihihis
3rd person	bihis
4th person (3o)	yihis
4th person (3a)	hahis
Indefinite (3i)	ahis

---

Old English

Pronoun

his

1. genitive of hē: his
2. genitive of hit: its

Descendants

• English: his
• Scots: his

---

Scots

Determiner

his

1. his

---

Turkish

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [his]

Noun

his (definite accusative hissi, plural hisler)

1. feeling, sensation, emotion

Declension

Inflection
Nominative	his
Definite accusative	hissi
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	his	hisler
Definite accusative	hissi	hisleri
Dative	hisse	hislere
Locative	histe	hislerde
Ablative	histen	hislerden
Genitive	hissin	hislerin
Possessive forms Singular Plural 1st singular hissim hislerim 2nd singular hissin hislerin 3rd singular hissi hisleri 1st plural hissimiz hislerimiz 2nd plural hissiniz hisleriniz 3rd plural hisleri hisleri

Synonyms

• duygu

Derived terms

• hisli > hislilik
• hissiz > hissizlik
• hissetmek > hissettirmek
• hislenmek
• hissî
• hissiyat