his

[hiz; unstressed iz]

Spell Syllables
Word Origin
See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com

pronoun
1.
the possessive form of he1.(used as an attributive or predicativeadjective
):
His coat is the brown one. This brown coat is his. Do you mind hisspeaki
ng first?
2.
that or those belonging to him:
His was the cleverest remark of all. I borrowed a tie of his.
Origin of hisExpand
900

before 900; Middle English, Old English, genitive of h he1

Usage noteExpand
See he1, me.

His
Biochemistry.
1.
histidine.

he 1

[hee; unstressed ee]

Spell Syllables
pronoun, nominative he, possessive his, objective him;plura
l nominative they, possessive their or theirs, objectivethem.
1.
the male person or animal being discussed or last mentioned; thatmale.
2.
anyone (without reference to gender); that person:
He who hesitates is lost.
noun, plural hes.
3.
any male person or animal; a man:
hes and shes.
adjective
4.
male (usually used in combination):
a he-goat.
OriginExpand
before 900; Middle English, Old English h (masculine nominativesingula
r); cognate with Dutch hij, Old Saxon h, Old High German her he;see h
is, him, she, her, it1
Usage noteExpand
Traditionally, the masculine singular pronouns he1, his, and him have be
enused generically to refer to indefinite pronouns like anyone, everyone,
andsomeone (Everyone who agrees should raise his right hand) and tos
ingular nouns that can be applied to either gender ( painter, parent,pers
on, teacher, writer, etc.): Every writer knows that his first book is notlik
ely to be a bestseller.This generic use is often criticized as sexist,althoug
h many speakers and writers continue the practice.
Those who object to the generic use of he have developed various ways
ofavoiding it. One is to use he/she or she/he (or he or she or she or he)
orthe appropriate case forms of these pairs: Everyone who agrees shoul
draise his or her(or her or his or his/her or her/his) right hand. Formsble
nding the feminine and masculine pronouns, as s/he, have not beenwide
ly adopted, probably because of confusion over how to say them.
Another solution is to change the antecedent pronoun or noun fromsingu
lar to plural so that the plural pronouns they, their, and them can beuse
d: All who agree should raise their right hands. All writers know thatthei
r first books are not likely to be bestsellers.See also they.
 Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, Random House, Inc. 2017.
Cite This Source
British Dictionary definitions for hisExpand

his
/hz; unstressed z/
determiner
1.

a. of, belonging to, or associated with him: his own fault, his knee, I don't
like his being out so late
b. as pronoun: his is on the left, that book is his

2.
his and hers, (of paired objects) for a man and woman respectively
pronoun
3.
of his, belonging to or associated with him
Word Origin
Old English his, genitive of hhe1 and of hitit

He
Chemical symbol
1.
helium

HE
abbreviation
1.
high explosive
2.
His Eminence
3.
His (or Her) Excellency
 he 1

/hi; unstressed i/
pronoun (subjective)
1.
refers to a male person or animal: he looks interesting, he's a fine
stallion
2.
refers to an indefinite antecedent such as one,
whoever, or anybody: everybody can do as he likes in this country
3.
refers to a person or animal of unknown or unspecified sex: a member
of the party may vote as he sees fit
noun
4.

a. a male person or animal

b. (in combination): he-goat

5.

a. a children's game in which one player chases the others in an attempt to

touch one of them, who then becomes the chaser Compare tag2
b. the person chasing Compare it1 (sense 7)

Word Origin
Old English h; related to Old Saxon hie, Old High German her he, Old
Slavonic s this, Latin cis on this side

he 2

/he; Hebrew he/

noun
1.
the fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet (), transliterated as h

he 3
/hi; he/
interjection
1.
an expression of amusement or derision Also he-he!, hee-hee!
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cite This Source
Word Origin and History for hisExpand
pron.
Old English his (genitive of he), from Proto-Germanic *khisa (cf.
Gothic is,German es). Originally also the neuter possessive pronoun, but
replaced in that sense c.1600 by its. In Middle English, hisis was tried
for the absolute pronoun (cf. her/hers), but it failed to stick. For
dialectal his'n, see her.

he
pron.
Old English he (see paradigm of Old English third person pronoun
below), from Proto-Germanic *hi- (cf. Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Middle
Dutch he, hi, Dutch hy, Old High German he), from PIE *ki-, variant
of *ko-, the "this, here" (as opposed to "that, there") root (cf.
Hittite ki "this," Greek ekeinos"that person," Old Church Slavonic si,
Lithuanian is "this"), and thus the source of the third person pronouns
in Old English. The feminine, hio, was replaced in early Middle English by
forms from other stems (see she), while the h- wore off Old English
neuter hit to make modern it. The Proto-Germanic root also is the
source of the first element in German heute"today," literally "the day"
(cf. Old English heodg).

case SINGULAR - - PLURAL

- masc. neut. fem. (all genders)
nom. he hit heo, hio hie, hi
acc. hine hit hie, hi hie, hi
gen. his his hire hira, heora
dat. him him hire him, heom
Pleonastic use with the noun ("Mistah Kurtz, he dead") is attested from
late Old English. With animal words, meaning "male" (he-goat, etc.)
from c.1300.
Online Etymology Dictionary, 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
his in MedicineExpand
His abbr.
histidine

His (hs), Wilhelm. 1863-1934.

German anatomist known for his investigations of the heart. He

described (1893) the atrioventricular trunk, also called the His bundle.
He
The symbol for the element helium.
The American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin
Company.
Cite This Source
his in ScienceExpand
He
The symbol for helium.
The American Heritage Science Dictionary
Copyright 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Word of the Day

literatim
Difficulty index for his
Most English speakers likely know this word
Word Value for his

6
5