their

T1H4E1I1R1
UK, UK/ðɛə/British, Southern, Standard, UK/ðɛː/Scotland, UK/ðeɹ/UK/ðɜː(ɹ)/

determiner

Belonging to, from, of, or relating to, them (plural).

“this is probably their cat”

Very commonScrabble 8

Meanings

determiner

alternative pronunciation spelling deir · alternative archaic thair · alternative archaic theire · alternative archaic theyr · alternative archaic theyre · alternative archaic thir

  1. Belonging to, from, of, or relating to, them (plural).

    this is probably their cat

    5 more examples

    they will meet tomorrow at their convenience

    For all things, even Celestial Luminaries, much more atmospheric meteors, have their rise, their culmination, their decline.

    1831, Thomas Carlyle, “Symbols”, in Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, 3rd book, page 155

    For Liverpool, their season will now be regarded as a relative disappointment after failure to add the FA Cup to the Carling Cup and not mounting a challenge to reach the Champions League places.

    2012 May 5, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport

    Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.

    2013 July 20, “The attack of the MOOCs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845, archived from the original on 17 Jul 2020

    Proponents of adding a gender-neutral option to state identification documents say it would remove a form of discrimination against nonbinary people by providing them with the means to carry identification that matches their identity.

    2019 May 29, Amy Harmon, “Which Box Do You Check? Some States Are Offering a Nonbinary Option”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 08 Jun 2019
  2. Belonging to someone (one person, singular), or occasionally to something.

    The only object ... showing the signature of N₂ in their spectra is Sedna.

    2021, Stern, Moore, Grundy, Young & Binzel, editor, The Pluto System after New Horizons, page 38
    4 more examples

    There's not a man I meet but doth salute me As if I were their well-acquainted friend […]

    c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], line 1172

    Place the casualty on their back with feet and legs raised—this is called the shock position. [emphasis in original] Once the casualty is positioned, cover them to preserve body heat, but do not overheat.

    2006, St. John Ambulance, First on the Scene: Student Reference Guide, →ISBN, Lesson 2, page 3

    I prefer to think that birds have a sufficiently developed sense of humour to enjoy the spectacle of a human being hunched beneath a bush kissing the back of their hand.

    1980, Bill Oddie, Bill Oddie's Little Black Bird Book, page 112

    ‘I mean ... if somebody made a mistake,’ Harry went on, ‘and let something slip, I know they didn’t mean to do it. It’s not their fault,’ he repeated, again a little louder than he would usually have spoken.

    2007, J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, (quoted edition: London: Bloomsbury, 2008, →ISBN, page 93)
adverb

alternative pronunciation spelling deir · alternative archaic thair · alternative archaic theire · alternative archaic theyr · alternative archaic theyre · alternative archaic thir

  1. misspellingMisspelling of there.
contraction

alternative pronunciation spelling deir · alternative archaic thair · alternative archaic theire · alternative archaic theyr · alternative archaic theyre · alternative archaic thir

  1. contractionmisspellingMisspelling of they’re.

Synonyms & antonyms

Origin

  1. Proto-Germanic*þaizǭ
  2. Proto-Norseᚦᚨᛁᛉᛟ (þaiʀo /⁠þaizō⁠/)
  3. Old Norseþeira
  4. Englishtheir

From Old Norse þeira, þeirra. Replaced native Old English heora.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Ancient Greek αὐτῶν, τούτων
  • αὐτῶν (autôn)belonging to them (plural)
  • τούτων (toútōn)belonging to them (plural)
  • ἐκείνων (ekeínōn)belonging to them (plural)
  • τῶνδε (tônde)belonging to them (plural)
  • σφῶν (sphôn)belonging to them (plural)
  • σφέτερος (sphéteros)belonging to them (plural)
Arabic لَهُم, ـهُمْ
  • لَهُم (lahum)belonging to them (plural)
  • ـهُمْ (-hum)belonging to them (plural)
  • ـهُنَّ (-hunna)belonging to them (plural)
  • ـهُمَا (-humā)belonging to them (plural)
Bulgarian те́хен, им
  • те́хен (téhen)belonging to them (plural)
  • им (im)belonging to them (plural)
Catalan llur
  • llurbelonging to them (plural)
Chinese Cantonese 他們的 /他们的, 佢哋嘅
  • 他們的 /他们的 (ta¹ mun⁴ dik¹)belonging to them (plural)
  • 佢哋嘅 (keoi⁵ dei⁶ ge³)belonging to them (plural)
Chinese Mandarin 他們的 /他们的, 她們的 /她们的
  • 他們的 /他们的 (tāmen de)belonging to them (plural)
  • 她們的 /她们的 (tāmen de)belonging to them (plural)
Czech jejich
  • jejichbelonging to them (plural)
Danish deres, sin
  • deresbelonging to them (plural)
  • sinbelonging to them (plural)
Dutch hun
  • hunbelonging to them (plural)
Esperanto ilia, iliaj
  • iliabelonging to them (plural)
  • iliajbelonging to them (plural)
  • siajbelonging to them (plural)
  • riabelonging to someone of unspecified gender (singular)
Finnish heidän, niiden
  • heidänbelonging to them (plural)
  • niidenbelonging to them (plural)
  • niittenbelonging to them (plural)
  • hänenbelonging to someone of unspecified gender (singular)
French leur, leurs
  • leurbelonging to them (plural)
  • leursbelonging to them (plural)
German ihr, ihre
  • ihrbelonging to them (plural)
  • ihrebelonging to them (plural)
  • sierbelonging to someone of unspecified gender (singular)
  • sierebelonging to someone of unspecified gender (singular)
Hawaiian ko lāua, kā lāua
  • ko lāuabelonging to them (plural)
  • kā lāuabelonging to them (plural)
  • ko lākoubelonging to them (plural)
  • kā lākoubelonging to them (plural)
Hebrew שלהם
  • שלהם (shelahém)belonging to them (plural)
Hindi उनका
  • उनका (unkā)belonging to them (plural)
Hungarian -uk, -ük
  • -ukbelonging to them (plural)
  • -ükbelonging to them (plural)
  • -jukbelonging to them (plural)
  • -jükbelonging to them (plural)
  • -abelonging to someone of unspecified gender (singular)
  • -ebelonging to someone of unspecified gender (singular)
  • -jabelonging to someone of unspecified gender (singular)
  • -jebelonging to someone of unspecified gender (singular)
Icelandic þeirra, sinn
  • þeirrabelonging to them (plural)
  • sinnbelonging to them (plural)
  • sínbelonging to them (plural)
  • sittbelonging to them (plural)
  • hánsbelonging to someone of unspecified gender (singular)
Irish a
  • abelonging to them (plural)
Italian il loro, la loro
  • il lorobelonging to them (plural)
  • la lorobelonging to them (plural)
  • i lorobelonging to them (plural)
  • le lorobelonging to them (plural)
  • lorobelonging to them (plural)
Japanese 彼らの
  • 彼らの (karera no)belonging to them (plural)
Korean 그들의
  • 그들의 (geudeurui)belonging to them (plural)
Latin suus, illorum
  • suusbelonging to them (plural)
  • illorumbelonging to them (plural)
  • illarumbelonging to them (plural)
  • eorumbelonging to them (plural)
  • earumbelonging to them (plural)
  • horumbelonging to them (plural)
  • harumbelonging to them (plural)
Latvian viņu
  • viņubelonging to them (plural)
Māori tā rāua, tō rāua
  • tā rāuabelonging to them (plural)
  • tō rāuabelonging to them (plural)
  • ā rāuabelonging to them (plural)
  • ō rāuabelonging to them (plural)
  • tā rātaubelonging to them (plural)
  • tō rātaubelonging to them (plural)
  • ā rātaubelonging to them (plural)
  • ō rātaubelonging to them (plural)
Norwegian hens, sin
  • hensbelonging to someone of unspecified gender (singular)
  • sinbelonging to someone of unspecified gender (singular)
Norwegian Bokmål deres, sin dems
  • deresbelonging to them (plural)
  • sin demsbelonging to them (plural)
Persian ـشان
  • ـشان (-e-šân)belonging to them (plural)
Polish ich
  • ichbelonging to them (plural)
Portuguese seu, seus
  • seubelonging to them (plural)
  • seusbelonging to them (plural)
Romanian lor, săi
  • lorbelonging to them (plural)
  • săibelonging to them (plural)
  • salebelonging to them (plural)
Russian их, ихний
  • их (ix)belonging to them (plural)
  • ихний (ixnij)belonging to them (plural)
Scottish Gaelic aca, an
  • acabelonging to them (plural)
  • anbelonging to them (plural)
  • ambelonging to them (plural)
Slovak ich, svoj
  • ichbelonging to them (plural)
  • svojbelonging to them (plural)
Spanish su, sus
  • subelonging to them (plural)
  • susbelonging to them (plural)
  • subelonging to someone of unspecified gender (singular)
  • susbelonging to someone of unspecified gender (singular)
Swahili -ake
  • -akebelonging to someone of unspecified gender (singular)
Swedish deras, sin (c)
  • derasbelonging to them (plural)
  • sin (c)belonging to them (plural)
  • sitt (n)belonging to them (plural)
  • sinabelonging to them (plural)
  • hensbelonging to someone of unspecified gender (singular)
Tagalog kanila (preposed), nila (postposed)
  • kanila (preposed)belonging to them (plural)
  • nila (postposed)belonging to them (plural)
Thai ของเขา
  • ของเขา (kŏng kăo)belonging to them (plural)
Turkish onların
  • onlarınbelonging to them (plural)
Ukrainian їх, ї́хній
  • їх (jix)belonging to them (plural)
  • ї́хній (jíxnij)belonging to them (plural)
Urdu ان کا
  • ان کا (un kā)belonging to them (plural)
Vietnamese của họ
  • của họbelonging to them (plural)
Welsh eu, ei
  • eubelonging to them (plural)
  • eibelonging to someone of unspecified gender (singular)
Yiddish זייער
  • זייער (zeyer)belonging to them (plural)
Zulu -yo, -wo
  • -yobelonging to them (plural)
  • -wobelonging to them (plural)
  • -zobelonging to them (plural)
  • -zobelonging to them (plural)

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with their

All rhymes →

Sounds the same

they're(pane–pain merger) therethey're(pane–pain merger) therethey're(pane–pain merger) there

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

their. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/their

MLA

“their.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/their. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “their,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/their.

Source: their on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.