SHE
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Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
she¹
- /ʃiː/ UK
- /ʃi/ Canada, US
- /ʃə/ Northumbria, unstressed
- /ʃiː/ Australia
- [ʃɪi] Australia
- [ʃɪ̈i] Australia
Sounds like sidhe, Xi, shee · Rhymes with -iː
Where it comes from
Inherited from Middle English sche, scho, hyo, ȝho (“she”), whence also Yorkshire dialectal shoo (“she”), Scots she, sho (“she”).
Probably from Old English hēo (whence dialectal English hoo), with an irregular change in stress from hēo to heō /hjoː/, then a development from /hj-/ to /ç/ to /ʃ-/, similar to the derivation of Shetland from Old Norse Hjaltland. In this case, she is from Proto-West Germanic *hiju, from Proto-Germanic *hijō f (“this, this one”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-, *ḱey- (“this, here”), 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 (“that one”, occasionally “she”) is also possible, though less likely. In that case, sēo would have undergone a change in stress from sēo to seō /sjoː/, then a change from /sj-/ to /ʃ-/, similar to the derivation of sure from Old French seur. It would then be cognate to Dutch zij and German sie.
Neither etymology would be expected to yield the modern vocalism in /iː/ (the expected form would be shoo, which is in fact found dialectally). It may be due to influence from he, but both hēo and sēo also have rare variants (hīe and sīe) that may give modern English /iː/.
pronoun her · hers · herself · shoo · hoo · shee
- The female (typically) person or animal previously mentioned or implied. I asked Mary, but she said that she didn't know.
- A ship or boat. She could do forty knots in good weather.
- A country, or sometimes a city, province, planet, etc. She is a poor place, but has beautiful scenery and friendly people.
- A thing, especially a machine or other object, such as a car, a computer, or (poetically) a season. She only gets thirty miles to the gallon on the highway, but she’s durable.
- A person whose gender is unknown or irrelevant (used in a work, along with or in place of he, as an indefinite pronoun). 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 p
- The Catholic Church. The Church is present in the world as a sign of unity for the entire human family. She recognizes today’s questions and challenges as the current setting in which to carry out her particular vocation of listening, dialogue and service, and of being responsive to everything concerning the lives of co
noun shes
- A female. Pat is definitely a she.
verb
- To refer to (someone) using she/her pronouns. If somebody wants to go by “he,” continually “sheing” them [is invalidating].
determiner
- Synonym of her.
SHE²
noun SHEs
- Initialism of standard hydrogen electrode.standard hydrogen electrode
- Initialism of superheavy element.superheavy element
- Initialism of safety, health, environment.safety
- Initialism of selective harmonic elimination.selective harmonic elimination
She³
- /ʃiː/
Where it comes from
See she.
pronoun
- Honorific alternative letter-case form of she, sometimes used when referring to God or another important figure who is understood from context.she
She⁴
Where it comes from
From Mandarin 涉 (Shè).
proper noun
- A county of Handan, Hebei, China.
She⁵
- /ʃə/
Where it comes from
From Mandarin 畲 (Shē).
noun She
- An ethnic group in southern China.
- A language of the Hmong-Mien language family spoken by very few She people.
