He

/ˈhiː/ · pronoun

Meaning

(personal) A person who identifies as male, or animal already known or implied..

Definitions by Sense

1. (personal) A person who identifies as male, or animal already known or implied.
2. (personal, sometimes proscribed, see usage notes) They; he or she (a person whose gender is unknown or irrelevant).
3. (personal, sometimes proscribed) It; an animal whose gender is unknown.
4. A genderless object regarded as masculine, such as certain stars or planets (e.g. Sun, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter) or certain ships.
5. (African-American Vernacular) Synonym of his.
6. (uncountable) The game of tag, or it, in which the player attempting to catch the others is called "he".
7. The player who chases and attempts to catch the others in this game.
8. (informal) A male.

Example Sentences

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

July 18 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Riseshttp://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.

[…]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.

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

The rulebook clearly states that "if any student is caught cheating, he will be expelled", and you were caught cheating, were you not, Anna?

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.

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; […]

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

Synonyms for he

Antonyms for he

Related Words

Word Forms

• him
• himself
• his
• hee
• hée
• hes
• hay
• hei
• hey

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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Frequently Asked Questions