She
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /ʃiË/
- US IPA: /ʃi/
- Rhymes: -iË
Origin
From Middle English sche, hye ("she"), from earlier scho, hyo (""), Èho ("she"), a phonetic development of Old English hÄ“o, hÄ«o ("she"), from Proto-Germanic *hijÅ ("this, this one"), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-, *ḱey- ("this, here"). Cognate with English dialectal hoo ("she"), Scots scho, shu ("she"), West Frisian hja ("she"), North Frisian jü ("she"), Danish hun ("she"), Swedish hon ("she"). More at he.
Despite the similarity in appearance, the Old English feminine demonstrative sÄ“o ("that") is probably not the source of Middle English forms in sch-. Rather, the sch- developed out of a change in stress upon hÃo resulting in hió, spelt Èho (Èh = hÈ, compare wh = hw, lh = hl, etc.), and the h was palatalised into the sh sound. Similar alteration can be seen the name Shetland, from Old Norse Hjaltland; Èho is the immediate parent form of Middle English scho and sche.
Full definition of she
Pronoun
she
(third-person singular, feminine, nominative caseaccusative and possessive - herpossessive - hersreflexive - herself)- (personal) A female person or animal.
- Spenser Faerie Queene, II.ix:Goodly she entertaind those noble knights,
And brought them vp into her castle hall .... - I asked Mary, but she said that she didn't know.
- (personal) A ship or country.
- (personal, affectionate) Machinery such as cars and steam engines.She is a beautiful boat, isn't she?
- (personal, nonstandard) he/she. used arbitrarily with he for an indefinite person in order to be gender-neutral.
- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow, 1990:Optimal experience is thus something that we make happen. For a child, it could be placing with trembling fingers the last block on a tower she has built, higher than any she has built so far; for a swimmer, it could be trying to beat his own record; for a violinist, mastering an intricate musical passage.
Noun
she
(plural shes)- A female.And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare — Shakespeare. - 2000, Sue V. Rosser, Building inclusive science (volume 28, issues 1-2, page 189)A world where the hes are so much more common than the shes can hardly be seen as a welcoming place for women.