whom

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whom^¹

/huːm/ UK, Wales
/hʉwm/ British, Southern, Standard
/hum/ Canada, US
/hʉːm/ Australia, New Zealand
/hʉm/ Northern Ireland, Scotland
/h(w)uːm/ Early Modern
/h(w)ɔːm/ Early Modern
/hwɒm/ Early Modern

Rhymes with -uːm

Where it comes from

From Middle English whom, wham, from Old English hwām, hwǣm, from Proto-Germanic *hwammai, dative case of *hwaz (“who, what”). Cognate with Scots wham (“whom”), German wem (“whom, to whom”), Danish hvem (“who, whom”), Swedish vem (“who, whom”).

pronoun of who · whome

formal, interrogative, often As the object of a verb. Whom did you ask?
formal, interrogative, often As the object of a preposition. To whom are you referring?
formal, often, relative Used to refer to a previously mentioned person or people. That is the woman whom I spoke to earlier. (defining)
formal, often The person(s) whom; whomever. To whom it may concern, all business of John Smith Ltd. has now been transferred to Floggitt & Runne.
formal, informal, often Also used with names of collective nouns that are groups of people, especially singularly-named musical groups or sports teams. Whom was Lemmy bassist for? Motörhead!

Whom^²

pronoun

honorific Honorific alternative letter-case form of whom, sometimes used when referring to God or another important figure who is understood from context.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: before, dont, from, how, including, persons, qui, than, that, what, where, which, who, whoever, whomever, whomsoever

Translations

Every language

pron what person; object of a verb (accusative)

Español	quién, quiénes
हिन्दी	किस kis
Português	o que, (for nonhumans) o quê, quem
Français	que
Deutsch	wen
Italiano	chi
Русский	кого́ kovó, кому́ komú, кем kem, ком kom
العربية	مَنْ man

pron what person or people, object of a preposition (dative)

Español	quién, quiénes, cuyo
Português	o que, (for nonhumans) o quê, quem
Français	qui
Deutsch	wem
Italiano	chi
Русский	кого́ kovó, кому́ komú, кем kem, ком kom
العربية	مَنْ man

pron relative pronoun (object)

Español	quien, quienes, cual, cuyo
हिन्दी	जिस jis
Português	quem, que, o qual, a qual, os quais, as quais
Français	que
Deutsch	dem, der, den, die
Italiano	cui
Русский	кото́рого kotórovo, кото́рому kotóromu, кото́рым kotórym, кото́ром kotórom
العربية	اَلَّذِي allaḏī, الَّتِي allatī, اَللَّذَيْنِ al-laḏayni, اَللَّتَيْنِ al-latayni, اَلَّذِينَ allaḏīna, اَللَّاتِي al-lātī

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MLA

"whom." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/whom. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

whom. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/whom

Chicago

"whom." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/whom.

BibTeX

@misc{whom_2026,
  title = {whom},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/whom},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}