Etymology From Middle English hes, from Old English his (“his; its”), from Proto-Germanic *hes (“of this”), genitive of Proto-Germanic *hiz (“this, this one”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-, *ḱey- (“this”). Cognate with Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic hans (“his”). More at he; see also its.
1
Belonging to him.
With that he put his ſpurres vnto his ſteed, With ſpeare in reſt, and toward him did fare, Like ſhaft out of a bow preuenting ſpeed.1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IIII, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 41:
No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 46:
1 more example
In his first televised address since the siege in Abidjan began this week, Ouattara said he would focus on returning the country to normal to ease the plight of civilians.2011 April 8, Xan Rice, “Ivory Coast: 100 more bodies found as ethnic tensions rise”, in The Guardian:
2
Dated, Sometimes Belonging to a person of unspecified gender.
On the contrary, those other passions, commonly denominated selfish, both produce different sentiments in each individual, according to his particular situation […]1751, David Hume, “(please specify the page)”, in An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:
It is our conviction that piecemeal critiques of nontheisms will not suffice. The theist must enter the arena with a positive and comprehensive case of his own.2003, Norman L. Geisler, Winfried Corduan, Philosophy of Religion: Second Edition, page 9:
3
Obsolete Its; belonging to it. (Now only when implying personification.)
In ſo moche that if any verbe be of the thyꝛde coniugation I ſet out all his rotes and tenſes[…]1530 July 18, Iohan Palſgrave, “The Introduction”, in Leſclarciſſement de la langue francoyſe […] , London: Richard Pynſon, Iohan Haukyns, →OCLC, page 32; reprinted as Lesclarcissement de la langue françoyse, Genève: Slatkine Reprints, 1972:
My ſtomacke could not well reach ſo farre: it is very much troubled to come to an end of that which it takes for his neede.1603, Michel de Montaigne, “Of Drunkennesse”, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, page 200:
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Yee are the ſalt of the earth: But if the ſalt haue loſt his ſauour, wherewith ſhall it bee ſalted?1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 5:13, column 1:
4
Archaic Used as a genitive marker in place of ’s after a noun, especially a masculine noun ending in -s, to express the possessive case.
Honorific, Possessive, Pronoun, Without noun Honorific alternative letter-case form of his, sometimes used when referring to God or another important figure who is understood from context.
We pray that He grant us His blessings and that His will be done.
But, the individual entities of that order depend upon God and His laws for their existence.1983, Alan Hart, Spinoza's Ethics, Part I and II: a platonic commentary, volume 1, Brill Archive, →ISBN, page 43:
Coordinate terms
He, Him
his
pron
Etymology From Middle English hes, from Old English his (“his; its”), from Proto-Germanic *hes (“of this”), genitive of Proto-Germanic *hiz (“this, this one”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-, *ḱey- (“this”). Cognate with Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic hans (“his”). More at he; see also its.
1
That or those belonging to him; the possessive case of he, used without a following noun.
58 termsIme, me, myselfmemysen, mine, mymineme, we, us, ourselvesourselfoursen, oursourn, our, you, yourselfyoursen, yoursyourn, your, thou, thee, thyselftheeselfthysen, thine, thythine, youye, yourselves, you ally'all you guys yous, y'allselves, all yours y'all's you guys' your guys', all your y'all's your all's you guys' your guys', he, him, himselfhisselfhissen, hishisn, she, her, herselfhersen, hershern, ithit, itselfhitself, itshis, itshishits, they, them, themself, themselves, theirs, their, one, oneself, –, one's, themhem, 'em, themselvestheirsen, theirstheirn, The following table shows a list of English personal pronoun, including archaic and dialectal forms. Dialectal and obsolete, archaic forms are in italics. 1 See Appendix:English third-person singular pronouns for attested neopronoun., hers, his/her, hisn, his'n