she

Meanings

Pronoun

• The female (typically) person or animal previously mentioned or implied.
• A ship or boat.
• A country, or sometimes a city, province, planet, etc.
• Any machine or thing, such as a car, a computer, or (poetically) a season.
• A person whose gender is unknown or irrelevant .

Noun

• A female.

Origin

• From Middle English sche, scho, hyo, ȝho, whence also Scots she, sho.
• Probably from Old English hēo, hīo, hīe (whence dialectal English hoo), with an irregular change in stress from hēo to heō , then a development from to to , similar to the derivation of Shetland from Hjaltland. In this case, she is from Proto-West Germanic *hiju, from Proto-Germanic *hijō ("this, this one"), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-, *ḱey-, and is cognate with Saterland Frisian jo, ju, West Frisian hja, North Frisian jü, Danish hun, Swedish hon; more at he.
• A derivation from Old English sēo, sīo, sīe is also possible, though less likely. In that case, sēo would have undergone a change in stress from sēo to seō , then a change from to , similar to the derivation of sure from seur. It would then be cognate to Dutch zij and German sie.
• Neither etymology would be expected to yield the modern vocalism in (the expected form would be shoo, which is in fact found dialectally). It may be due to influence from he