■ pronoun [ third person singular ]
1》 used to refer to a man, boy, or male animal previously mentioned or easily identified.
2》 used to refer to a person or animal of unspecified sex (in modern use, now largely replaced by ‘~ or s~’ or ‘t~y’).
3》 any person (in modern use, now largely replaced by ‘anyone’ or ‘t~ person’).
■ noun a male; a man.
Origin
OE ~ , hē , of Gmc origin.
Usage
Until quite recently ~ was used to refer to a person of unspecified sex, as in every child needs to know that ~ is loved . However, this use is now regarded as old-fashioned or sexist. One alternative, which is gaining acceptance in both speech and writing, is to use t~y instead of ~ ( everyone needs to feel that t~y matter ), especially w~re it occurs after an indefinite pronoun such as everyone or someone . Anot~r alternative is ~ or s~ , though this can become long-winded w~n used frequently.