his
English[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
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.
Pronunciation[edit]
Determiner[edit]
his
- Belonging to him. [from 8th c.]
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.i:
- 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.
-
1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity:
- 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, Xan Rice, The Guardian, 8 Apr 2011:
- 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.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.i:
- (dated) Belonging to a person of unspecified gender.
- David Hume
- On the contrary, those other passions, commonly denominated selfish, both produce different sentiments in each individual, according to his particular situation […]
- David Hume
- (obsolete) Its; belonging to it. (Now only when implying personification.) [11th-17th c.]
-
1603, John Florio, transl.; Michel de Montaigne, Essayes, London: Edward Blount, OCLC 946730821:, II.2:
- 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 need.
- 1611, Matthew 5:13, King James Version:
- Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted?
-
- (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.
Usage notes[edit]
- 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.
Translations[edit]
attributive: belonging to him
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See also[edit]
English personal pronouns
| personal pronoun | possessive pronoun |
possessive determiner |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| subjective | objective | reflexive | |||||
| first person | singular | I | me | myself | mine | my mine (before vowels, archaic) |
|
| plural | we | us | ourselves ourself |
ours | our | ||
| second person | singular | standard | you | you | yourself | yours yourn (obsolete outside dialects) |
your |
| archaic, informal | thou | thee | thyself theeself |
thine | thy thine (before vowels) |
||
| plural | standard | you you all ye (archaic) |
you you all |
yourselves | yours yourn (obsolete outside dialects) |
your | |
| informal / dialectal | (see list of dialectal forms at you and inflected forms in those entries) | ||||||
| third person | singular | masculine | he | him | himself hisself (archaic) |
his hisn (obsolete outside dialects) |
his |
| feminine | she | her | herself | hers hern (obsolete outside dialects) |
her | ||
| neuter | it | it | itself | its his (archaic) |
its his (archaic) |
||
| genderless | they | them | themself, themselves | theirs | their | ||
| genderless, nonspecific (formal) |
one | one | oneself | – | one's | ||
| plural | they | them | themselves | theirs theirn (obsolete outside dialects) |
their | ||
Pronoun[edit]
his
- That which belongs to him; the possessive case of he, used without a following noun.
- The decision was his to live with.
- Alternative spelling of His
Translations[edit]
that which belongs to him
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See also[edit]
Etymology 2[edit]
Noun[edit]
his
- 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.
- 2009, John M. Carney, Welcome to Tranquility
Statistics[edit]
Most common English words before 1923 in Project Gutenberg: that · was · he · #10: his · with · is · it
Anagrams[edit]
Danish[edit]
Noun[edit]
his n
Finnish[edit]
Noun[edit]
his
Latin[edit]
Pronoun[edit]
hīs
- dative masculine plural of hic
- dative feminine plural of hic
- dative neuter plural of hic
- ablative masculine plural of hic
- ablative feminine plural of hic
- ablative neuter plural of hic
[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
- xis (in older Americanist literature)
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
his
Scots[edit]
Determiner[edit]
his
Turkish[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
his (definite accusative hissi, plural hisler)
Declension[edit]
declension of his
possessive forms of his
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English determiners
- English possessive determiners
- English dated terms
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms with archaic senses
- English pronouns
- English possessive pronouns
- English third person pronouns
- English non-lemma forms
- English noun plural forms
- English basic words
- Danish non-lemma forms
- Danish noun forms
- Finnish lemmas
- Finnish nouns
- fi:Music
- Latin non-lemma forms
- Latin pronoun forms
- Navajo terms with IPA pronunciation
- Navajo lemmas
- Navajo nouns
- nv:Bodily fluids
- Scots lemmas
- Scots determiners
- Turkish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Turkish lemmas
- Turkish nouns
