# here

Pronunciation: say "HEER" US /hɪɚ̯/, UK /hɪə̯/, AUS /hɪː/

## Adverb

1. In, at or to this place, the one near the speaker.
   - Simple: In, at or to this place where I am.
   - _The keys are here on the table._
   - _It's cold here in winter._
2. Placed first in a sentence, usually before be, come or go, to introduce, hand over, or draw attention to someone or something.
   - Simple: Used at the start of a sentence, often with be, come or go, to give, show, or point out someone or something.
   - _Here are the keys to the apartment, and the spare is on the hook._
   - _The music swelled, and someone whispered, "Here comes the bride."_
3. In this context or on this point; in the matter now being discussed.
   - Simple: In this case, or on this point that we are talking about.
   - _The term is used loosely elsewhere, but here it has a precise meaning._
   - _Here 'client' means the software, not the customer._
4. At the present stage or juncture of a discussion, story, process, or the like.
   - Simple: At this point in a story, a job or an argument.
   - _Here the story takes a strange turn._
   - _We had better stop here for today._
5. After be, present because happening now.
   - Simple: Arrived or happening now, as in 'summer is here'.
   - _The moment of truth is here._
   - _Spring is here at last._
13. After a person's name or a noun for them, marking the person as present beside the speaker. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Said after a person's name to point them out, as in 'Jim here'.
   - _Anna here is our best mechanic._
   - _The gentleman here has a question._
15. After this or these, reinforcing the demonstrative. *(dialectal)*
   - Simple: Added after 'this' or 'these' in dialect, as in 'this here orange'.
   - _This here road goes to the mill._
   - _Them there fields and this here barn are all ours._

## Noun

7. This place or location.
   - Simple: This place, used as a noun, as in 'here is where I live'.
   - _From here the road drops to the valley._
   - _Here is where the old mill stood before the flood._
11. This point or stage in time or in a process, pictured as a place.
   - Simple: This point in time or in a task, as a noun, as in 'take it from here'.
   - _Where do we go from here?_
   - _From here on, the work gets harder._
12. This time, or the present situation.
   - Simple: This time or this situation, used as a noun.
   - _Her advice was to live in the here and now._
   - _Small children live in the here and now._

## Interjection

8. Interjection answering a roll call, meaning 'present' ('Smith… Here! Jones… Here!').
   - Simple: Said to show you are present when your name is called.
   - _"Patel?" "Here, miss."_
   - _Every name got a 'here' except Walters._
9. Interjection commanding a person or animal to come to the speaker ('Fido! Here!').
   - Simple: Said to make a person or a dog come to you.
   - _The dog froze at the gate until I whistled and shouted, 'Rex, here!'_
   - _The coach blew her whistle and shouted, 'Everybody, here! Huddle up!'_
10. Said when offering or handing something to the listener, often with a light insistence ('here, try this').
   - Simple: Said when handing something to someone, as in 'here, take it'.
   - _Here, use my pen._
   - _Here, let me carry that for you._
14. Used at the start of a remark to get attention, stress an opinion, or protest. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Said to get someone's attention, to stress what you say, or to complain.
   - _Here, that's my bike!_
   - _Here now, that's enough of that._

## Adjective

6. Alive, still in the world ('I'm not dead yet, I'm still here'), nearly always with 'still'.
   - Simple: Still alive, as in 'I'm still here'.
   - _My grandfather likes to joke that he is ninety-five and still here._
   - _The doctors gave her six months, but ten years later she's still here._

## Origin

The word goes back to Proto-Indo-European roots by way of Proto-Germanic, and reached Old English as hēr ("at this place") and Middle English as her. The pronoun he is related, and so are hither ("to this place") and hence, meaning "from this place."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/here (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).