I. (|)hē, _ē, _(h)i pronoun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English hē; akin to Old English hēo, hīo she, hit it, hīe they, Old Saxon hē, hi e he, Old High German hē, Old Norse h ann he, Gothic himma (dative) this, Latin cis, citra on this side, Greek ke inos, e ke inos that (adjective), that person, Armenian sa this, Hittite ki; basic meaning: this
1. : that male one
I'll have no father, if you be not he — Shakespeare
I spoke to the boy and he spoke to me
: that one regarded as masculine (as by personification)
last came Anarchy: he rode on a white horse — P.B.Shelley
— used as nominative masculine pronoun of the third person singular usually in reference to a previously specified subject or to someone indicated by some means (as pointing)
he heard me say it and so did he
he with the beard is the one I mean
sometimes in poetry and in substandard speech used pleonastically together with a noun as subject of a verb
the Senator he said he'd have to have you — John Dos Passos
Sir Oluf he rideth over the plain — H.W.Longfellow
— see him I, his I; compare his , it , she , they III
2. : that one whose sex is unknown or immaterial
find out who is ringing the doorbell and what he wants
he that hath ears to hear, let him hear — Mt 11:15 (Authorized Version)
— used as a nominative case form in general statements (as in statutes) to include females, fictitious persons (as corporations), and several persons collectively
if a customer is dissatisfied he may return the goods
one manufacturer is advertising … that he will sell cars freight-free — Motor Trend
3. archaic : the one : the other — used as a nominative masculine demonstrative pronoun in the expressions he … he and he and he
4. : you — used as a nominative case form in speaking to or as if to a baby
did he bump his little head
and in some English dialects in addressing a boy or in addressing a person of higher or lower social status than the speaker
5.
a. substandard : him — used in a compound object
between his wife and he
b. dialect England : him , it — used emphatically as object of a verb or preposition
don't give it to he
II. |hē noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English, from he, pron.
1. : a male person or animal
the hes would quarrel and fight with the females — Jonathan Swift
— often used in combination
a routine he -she plot
he -goat
2.
a. : one that is strongly masculine or virile — used chiefly in combination
a real he -man
that's what I call he -literature — Sinclair Lewis
b. dialect : a large or powerful one of its kind — used chiefly in combination
a regular old he -blizzard — Wallace Stegner
3. Britain : tag III 1 ; also : the player who is it
III. noun
also heh ˈhā
( -s )
Etymology: Hebrew hē', perhaps literally, window
1. : the fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet — symbol ה; see alphabet table
2. : the letter of the Phoenician alphabet or of any of various other Semitic alphabets corresponding to Hebrew he