his

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*ḱe-
2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*hiz“this, this one”
3. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*hes“of this”
4. Old English · inherited fromhis“his; its”
5. Middle English · inherited fromhes
6. English todayhis

From Middle English hes, 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.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 8th c. Belonging to him.
• 11th–17th c. Its; belonging to it. (Now only when implying personification.)
• from 11th c. Used as a genitive marker in place of ’s after a noun, especially a masculine noun ending in -s, to express the possessive case.