Who
Definition, Meaning & Examples
Pronunciation /huː/ · Part of speech pronoun
Quick meaning: Who is a pronoun meaning (interrogative) What person or people; which person or people; asks for the identity of someone; used in a direct or indirect question.
Meaning
(interrogative) What person or people; which person or people; asks for the identity of someone; used in a direct or indirect question.
More Meanings
- (relative) Introduces a relative clause having a human antecedent.
- (fused relative, archaic or marginal) Whoever, he who, they who.
- A person under discussion; a question of which person.
- (interrogative, dialect, African-American Vernacular) whose
- (informal, especially non-US) Also used with names of collective nouns that are groups of people, especially singularly-named musical groups or sports teams.
Example Sentences
Give it to who deserves it.
Who insults my mother insults me.
Who steals my purse steals trash.
Who says they care? —They themselves do.
Word Forms
- whom
- whose
- whos
Related Words
Related dictionary entries include whom, whoever, whomever, whosoever, whoso, which.
Related Dictionary Tools
Practice “who” in a Crossword
Recall this definition from a clue, use crossing letters, and review the word again when you solve it.
Sources & Attribution
FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0
Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.