he

oblique him · reflexive himself · possessive his · alternative obsolete hee · alternative obsolete hée

1. masculinenominativepersonalsingularthird personA person who identifies as male, or animal already known or implied.

   That friend of your cousin's, he's on the phone.

   4 more examples

   […]purſued his vnneighbourly purpoſe in ſuch ſort: that hee being the ſtronger perſwader, and ſhe (belike) too credulous in beleeuing or elſe ouer-feeble in reſiſting, from priuate imparlance, they fell to action; and continued their cloſe fight a long while together, vnſeene and vvithout ſuſpition, no doubt to their equall ioy and contentment.

   1620, Giovanni Bocaccio, translated by John Florio, The Decameron, Containing an Hundred Pleaſant Nouels: Wittily Diſcourſed, Betweene Seuen Honourable Ladies, and Three Noble Gentlemen, Isaac Iaggard, →ISBN, Nouell 8, The Eighth Day

   "It was he we saw the tracks of down by Rausand hill."

   1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 77

   In his letter of 5 March 1852 to Joseph Weydemeyer, Marx declares that it was not he who discovered the existence of classes or the class struggle […]

   1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume I: The Founders, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: powstanie (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 352

   July 18 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Riseshttps://web.archive.org/web/20130918201706/http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-dark-knight-rises-review-batman,82624/ Though Bane’s sing-song voice gives his pronouncements a funny lilt, he doesn’t have any of the Joker’s deranged wit, and Nolan isn’t interested in undercutting his seriousness for the sake of a breezier entertainment.

2. masculinenominativepersonalproscribedsingularsometimesthird personThey; 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?

   1 more example

   First, to avoid the cumbrous ‘he or she’ and ‘his or hers’, and the ungrammatical ‘they’ when used in the singular, I have mostly stuck to saying ‘he’ or ‘his’. I hope that this will be understood in an unchauvinistic, gender-neutral way.

   [2010, Tom Bingham, Baron Bingham of Cornhill, The Rule of Law, Penguin Books, →ISBN, Preface, page ix

3. masculinenominativepersonalproscribedsingularsometimesthird personIt; an animal whose gender is unknown.

   Synonyms: it

4. masculinenominativesingularthird personA genderless object regarded as masculine, such as certain stars or planets (e.g. Sun, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter) or certain ships.

   He [= the ship Bismarck] was made to rule the waves across the seven seas […]

   2019, Sabaton, Bismarck

   1 more example

   JUPITER is the largest of all the Planets, his Orbit lies between the Orbits of the Earth and Mars, and at the cast Distance of 426 Millions of Miles from the Sun, he goes round him in 11 Years, 314 Days and 12 Hours; […]

   1770, A Mathematical Miscellany in Four Parts, 3rd edition, page 125

   Antonyms: she, it

alternative obsolete hee · alternative obsolete hée

1. African-American VernacularSynonym of his.

   Synonyms: his

plural hes · alternative obsolete hee · alternative obsolete hée

1. uncountableThe game of tag, or it, in which the player attempting to catch the others is called "he".
2. countableuncountableThe player who chases and attempts to catch the others in this game.
3. countableinformaluncountableA male.

   Is your cat a he or a she?

alternative hay · alternative hei · alternative hey · alternative obsolete hee · alternative obsolete hée

1. The name of the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others).

   This Nehama claimed that in his own hand he recognized the consonant “he” of his Hebrew language, and in the letter “vav” his own male soul.

   1988, Milorad Pavić, translated by Christina Pribićević-Zorić, Dictionary of the Khazars, Vintage, published 1989, page 7

   1 more example

   The same number in the Hebrew mysteries and Cabalistical accounts was the character of Generation; declared by the Letter He, the fifth in their Alphabet.

   1658, Thomas Browne, The Garden of Cyrus, Folio Society, published 2007, page 210

2. The name of the first letter of the Old South Arabian abjad.

alternative obsolete hee · alternative obsolete hée

1. reduplicationuncommonusuallyAn expression of laughter.

   (more common)

   2 more examples

   If e'er he went into excess, / 'Twas from a somewhat lively thirst; / But he who would his subjects bless, / Odd's fish!—must wet his whistle first; / And so from every cask they got, / Our king did to himself allot / At least a pot. / Sing ho, ho, ho! and he, he, he! / That's the kind of king for me.

   1897, Charles Dudley Warner, Hamilton Wright Mabie, Charles Henry Warner, Lucia Isabella Gilbert Runkle, Library of the World's Best Literature: A-Z, page 1791

   "Well, what is your next tale?" said Sumner, a little brusquely. "He, he! he, he! . . . he, he!" chuckled the bottle, "the text tale I'm going to tell you in a very funny one. It will make you laugh. There's a lady in it—he, he!—a very comic affair."

   1921, Norman Davey, The Pilgrim of a Smile, page 247

   Synonyms: ha, hehe

oblique Him · reflexive Himself · possessive His

1. honorificmasculinepronounsingularthird personHonorific alternative letter-case form of he, sometimes used when referring to God or another important figure who is understood from context.

   I love the Lord for He is Great and Holy.

plural Hes

1. A surname from Mandarin.

   The story of Ms. He and her mother began in the early 1960s, shortly before the Cultural Revolution shook China.

   2014 January 20, Didi Kirsten Tatlow, “‘She. Herself. Naked.': The Art of He Chengyao”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 Aug 2023, Sinosphere

1. A county of Ma'anshan, Anhui, China.

plural HEs

1. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableInitialism of high explosive.

   This here is sixty-six tons of straight-up, HE-spewing dee-vine intervention!

   2004 November 9, Bungie, Halo 2, spoken by Avery Johnson (David Scully), Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox, level/area: Metropolis(Legendary)

2. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableInitialism of higher education.

   LSST said the allegations were untrue. It described its mission as challenging: "We are providing a valuable service to communities that are often overlooked or are underserved by the public HE sector, and in doing so we are making transformational change."

   2014 May 21, Andrew McGettigan, Shiv Malik, John Domokos, “Private sector and students profit at the college they call 'the ATM'”, in The Guardian

3. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableInitialism of health education.
4. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableInitialism of His Excellency / Her Excellency.
5. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableInitialism of His Eminence.
6. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableInitialism of home entertainment.
7. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableInitialism of human era (“current epoch”).
8. abbreviationcountableuncountableAbbreviation of hydroelectricity.
9. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableInitialism of home economics.
10. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableInitialism of hydrogen embrittlement.

1. abbreviationAbbreviation of Hesse: a state of Germany.

1. abbreviationnot comparableAbbreviation of hydroelectric.

1. InternetabbreviationinitialismInitialism of how embarrassing.