he.
A person who identifies as male, or animal already known or implied.
Meaning & usage
A person who identifies as male, or animal already known or implied.
That friend of your cousin's, he's on the phone.
They; he or she (a person whose gender is unknown or irrelevant).
The rulebook clearly states that "if any student is caught cheating, he will be expelled", and you were caught cheating, were you not, Anna?
It; an animal whose gender is unknown.
A genderless object regarded as masculine, such as certain stars or planets (e.g. Sun, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter) or certain ships.
Where this word comes from
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”).
Synonym of his.
Where this word comes from
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”).
The game of tag, or it, in which the player attempting to catch the others is called "he".
The player who chases and attempts to catch the others in this game.
A male.
Is your cat a he or a she?
Where this word comes from
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”).
The name of the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others).
The name of the first letter of the Old South Arabian abjad.
Where this word comes from
Transliteration of various Semitic letters, such as Phoenician 𐤄 (h), Hebrew ה (h), Classical Syriac ܗ (h, “hē”), and Old South Arabian 𐩠 (h).
An expression of laughter.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.