English Explanatory Dictionary

who

English dictionary entry

Meanings

pron
  1. What person or people; which person or people; asks for the identity of someone; used in a direct or indirect question.
  2. Introduces a relative clause having a human antecedent.
  3. With antecedent as subject.
  4. With antecedent as object: whom.
  5. Whoever, he who, they who.
  6. Also used with names of collective nouns that are groups of people, especially singularly-named musical groups or sports teams.
noun
  1. A person under discussion; a question of which person.
det
  1. whose
name
  1. Initialism of World Health Organization.
pron
  1. Honorific alternative letter-case form of who, sometimes used when referring to God or another important figure who is understood from context.
name
  1. The television show Doctor Who.

Pronunciation

ho͞o /huː/ [huː] [hʊw] LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-who.wav [hʉw] [hʉː] En-uk-who.ogg [hu(ː)] En-us-who.ogg h(w)o͞o h(w)ō /h(w)uː/ /h(w)ɔː/ /hwɒ/ /ˈdʌbəljuː ˈeɪt͡ʃ ˈəʊ/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-WHO.wav

Word forms

who whom whose whos the WHO W.H.O. W. H. O.

Etymology

From Middle English who, hwo, huo, wha, hwoa, hwa, from Old English hwā (dative hwām, genitive hwæs), from Proto-West Germanic *hwaʀ, from Proto-Germanic *hwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷos, *kʷís. The sound change /hw/ > /h/ (without a corresponding change in spelling) was due to wh-cluster reduction after an irregular change of /ɑː/ to /oː/ in Middle English (instead of the expected /ɔː/) and further to /uː/ regularly in Early Modern English. A similar change occurred in two. Compare how, which underwent wh-reduction earlier (in Old English), and thus is spelt with h. Compare Scots wha, West Frisian wa, Dutch wie, Low German we, German wer, Swedish vem, Danish hvem, Norwegian Bokmål hvem, Norwegian Nynorsk kven, Icelandic hver.

Related words

WHA Whom Whose

Derived words

abandon hope, all ye who enter here all hope abandon ye who enter here all things come to those who wait anybody who is anybody anybody who is anyone anyone who is anybody anyone who is anyone as who should say dance with the one who brought ya dance with the one who brought you dance with the one who brung ya dance with the one who brung you do you know who I am everybody who is anybody everybody who is anyone everyone who is anybody everyone who is anyone evil be to him who evil thinks God helps them who help themselves God helps those who help themselves good things come to those who wait heaven helps those who help themselves he who denied it supplied it he who digs a pit for others falls in himself he who hesitates is lost he who laughs last laughs best he who laughs last laughs hardest he who pays the piper calls the tune he who said the rhyme did the crime he who smelt it dealt it he who sups with the devil should have a long spoon it's not what you know but who you know lady who lunches leave with the one who brought ya leave with the one who brought you leave with the one who brung ya leave with the one who brung you let he who is without sin cast the first stone let him who is without sin cast the first stone look like who did it and ran look who the cat dragged in one who hesitates is lost people who live in glass houses should not throw stones people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones raise the flag and see who salutes says who send it up the flagpole and see who salutes shame be to him who thinks evil of it shame to him who thinks ill of it the Lord helps those who help themselves there are none so blind as those who will not see there's none so blind as those who will not see those who have get those who have get more those who live in glass houses should not throw stones those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those doing it though I say it who should not though I say it who should not say it who am I kidding

Translations

Southern Altai: кем Arabic: اَلَّذِي Arabic: اَلَّتِي Arabic: اَللَّذَانِ Arabic: اَللَّتَانِ Arabic: اَلَّذِينَ Arabic: اَللَّاتِي Arabic: اَللَّائِي Arabic: اللَّوَاتِي Arabic: الي Arabic: اللي Armenian: որ Armenian: որը Asturian: quien Asturian: quienes Azerbaijani: hansı ki Belarusian: які́ Belarusian: яка́я Bulgarian: кое́то Bulgarian: ко́йто Bulgarian: която Bulgarian: които Chamicuro: na'shanana Corsican: chi Czech: který Czech: kteří Danish: som Dutch: die Dutch: wie Dutch: dat Dutch: wat Esperanto: kiu Estonian: kes Faroese: sum Faroese: ið Finnish: joka Finnish: jonka Finnish: jotka French: qui Old French: qui Old French: ki Old French: cui West-Frisian: wa't German: der German: die German: das Gothic: 𐍃𐌰𐌴𐌹 Gothic: 𐍃𐍉𐌴𐌹 Gothic: 𐌸𐌰𐍄𐌴𐌹 Greek: ο οποίος Greek: η οποία Greek: το οποίο Ancient Greek: ὅς Ancient Greek: ὅσος Ancient Greek: οἷος Gujarati: જે Hebrew: אֲשֶׁר Hindi: जो Hungarian: aki Hungarian: akik Icelandic: sem Ido: qua Ido: qui Indonesian: yang Ingrian: kumpa Interlingua: qui Irish: a Italian: che Kumyk: ким Northern Kurdish: ku Northern Kurdish: yê ku Northern Kurdish: ya ku Northern Kurdish: yên ku Kyrgyz: ким Latgalian: kurs Latin: qui Latin: quae Latin: quod Latvian: kas Latvian: kurš
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