pronoun

plural pronouns · alternative obsolete pronoune

1. grammarA part of speech that refers anaphorically to a noun or noun phrase, which cannot ordinarily be preceded by a determiner and rarely takes an attributive adjective.

   The possessive conjunctive pronoun is always repeated before a substantive, and after a conjunction; as my brothers and sisters, mes frères & mes sœurs; […]

   1789, Jean Baptiste, A grammar of the French tongue, page 193

   2 more examples

   Dalia: Why are you playing the pronoun game? Alyssa: What? What are you talking about? I'm not even. Dalia: You are. "I met someone." "We have a great time. "They're from my home town." Doesn't this tube of wonderful have a name!

   1997, Kevin Smith, Chasing Amy

   As here the possessive pronoun 'our' has inclusive reference in that it a priori includes both the editor and reader, its presence amounts to a kind of pronominal bonding between writer and reader.

   2013, Nicholas Brownless, “Spoken Discourse in Early English Newspapers”, in Joad Raymond, editor, News Networks in Seventeenth Century Britain and Europe, page 72

2. in pluralspecificallyAny of the third-person pronouns by which a person prefers to be referred to, typically reflecting their gender identity; often communicated as a subject–object pair.

   My pronouns are she/her. What are your pronouns?

   5 more examples

   The vast majority (82 percent) of the nonbinary trans students I interviewed used nonbinary pronouns for themselves, and all said that they were rarely given the opportunity to indicate their pronouns.

   2019, Genny Beemyn, editor, Trans People in Higher Education, SUNY Press, →ISBN, page 178

   In recent weeks, [Rachel] Accurso has faced backlash from some parents on TikTok who say her content is "inappropriate" because it features her co-star, Jules, a musician who uses they/them pronouns.

   2023 March 2, Morgan Sung, “Viral kids' star Ms. Rachel is taking a break from social media after backlash over co-star who uses they/them pronouns”, in NBC News, archived from the original on 23 Apr 2024

   Then an earnest elaboration: “It’s just nice that other people understand what I’m thinking. I don’t have to explain a million things. I don’t have to be like, Okay, I guess I’ll let you ignore my pronouns. It’s a very good space.”

   2023 August 31, Frankie de la Cretaz, “Postcard from Camp Gaylore”, in Cosmopolitan, archived from the original on 26 Dec 2023

   Abbott celebrated the move on X, sharing a report from the Austin American-Statesman on the firing and writing: “A Texas state employee refused to remove pronouns from email signature. He was fired before noon.”

   2025 March 6, Erum Salam, quoting Greg Abbott, “Elon Musk and Texas governor celebrate firing of worker over pronouns in email signature”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 Apr 2025

   Fox News sneered that [Renee] Good was a “self-proclaimed poet” — she’s the winner of a prestigious poetry award — “with pronouns in her bio.”

   2026 January 8, Michelle Goldberg, “By Killing Renee Good, ICE Sent a Message to Us All”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC