she
Pluralshes
- 1Used as the subject of a verb to refer to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned or implied.
My neighbor waved at me, but she didn't stop to talk.
When the queen arrived, she was greeted with cheers.
UsageShe is the subject form; after most verbs and prepositions use her: I saw her, give it to her.
Note
The everyday subject pronoun, and an old one: Middle English had sche and scho, and their descendants still live on in Yorkshire shoo and Scots sho.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Middle English had the pronoun forms sche and scho. en.wiktionary.org
- Yorkshire shoo descends from these Middle English forms. en.wiktionary.org
- Scots sho descends from these Middle English forms. en.wiktionary.org
- 2Used as a generic pronoun for a person of unknown gender, in some books alongside or instead of 'he'.
When a child builds a tower, she wants it higher than the last one.
The user should back up her files before she installs the update.
UsageSome readers hear it as female, so many writers rephrase, use a plural, or use they.
Note
A writer's deliberate choice, not a slip. A 1990 book on flow gives the child she and, a clause later, gives the swimmer his, alternating the two pronouns.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The book is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, first published in 1990. openlibrary.org
- The passage uses she for a generic child and his for a generic swimmer in the following clause. files.blogs.baruch.cuny.edu
- 3Used, often affectionately, to refer to a ship, vehicle, machine, country or other thing thought of as female.
The lifeboat was launched at dawn, and she reached the wreck within the hour.
They repainted the yacht, and now she looks brand new.
UsageIt is fine too; she sounds warmer. The rest follows: her engines, isn't she?
Note
Seafaring English treats a vessel as a person rather than a thing, and the choice often carries affection. The same habit reaches cars and machines, and, in an older style that now sounds dated, countries and cities.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The maritime tradition of referring to ships as she personifies them. en.wikipedia.org
- She has also traditionally referred to countries and cities. en.wiktionary.org
Less common meanings
- 4A female, whether a woman, girl or animal, especially in contrast with 'he'.
Our new puppy turned out to be a she, so we had to rethink the name Max.
I think the new hire is a she, not a he.
UsageUsually with a: is it a he or a she? The plural is shes.
Similarfemale
Note
Older literature uses the noun in a half-poetic way for a woman. Shakespeare's speaker finds his love as rare "as any she," and Fielding's landlady speaks of "the finest she that ever wore a head." Thackeray shows another use, placing it before a noun to mean a female of that kind: a she chimney-sweep. Today the bare noun mostly appears in plain contrast with he.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 contains the comparison with "as any she"; the love described belongs to the poem's speaker. folger.edu
- The wording is accurate, but the speaker is the landlady addressing Jones in Fielding's The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book VIII, Chapter II. en.wikisource.org
- Thackeray uses "a she chimney-sweep" to denote a female chimney-sweep. gutenberg.org
- 5Standing in for it when speaking of the general state of affairs or of how things are going.
Missed the ferry? No worries, she'll be right, there's another one in twenty minutes.
The drought's dragged on for months, and she's getting pretty grim out on the station.
UsageMostly in she'll be right, meaning things will turn out fine.
Similarit
Note
It is a hallmark of Australian and New Zealand speech, heard most in the stock reassurance she'll be right, meaning things will turn out fine. The pronoun stands for the whole state of affairs, not for any woman or named thing, so she's getting grim describes conditions, not a person.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The reassurance she'll be right is associated with Australia and New Zealand and means everything will be all right. en.wiktionary.org
- In this expression, she refers to the general situation rather than a woman. en.wikipedia.org
- 6To refer to someone with the pronouns she and her, especially when the person uses other pronouns.
Nobody should she a person who has asked to be called 'he'.
The article kept sheing the actor even after he had publicly corrected the reporter.
Similarmisgender
Note
Here a pronoun is pressed into service as a verb, and it travels with its partner: a person may he themselves while someone else shes them. Writers often set the form apart, as 'sheing', to signal that a pronoun is being bent into a verb. Its usual home is talk about misgendering. Sheing someone who goes by he is called invalidating, so the word tends to carry a charge of disrespect.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- She and he can function as verbs describing which pronouns someone uses for a person. en.wiktionary.org
- Continually sheing someone who wants to be called he has been described as invalidating their identity. health.ucdavis.edu
- 7In some Caribbean and African-American dialects, used as the possessive 'her' before a noun.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
"She" was inherited from Middle English "sche," "scho," and related forms. It probably comes from Old English "heo," through an irregular shift in stress and sound (from /hj-/ to /ʃ-/), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *hiju and Proto-Germanic *hijo ("this, this one"), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-, *ḱey- ("this, here"). A derivation from Old English "seo" ("that one," occasionally "she") is also possible, though considered less likely.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts
- She descends from Middle English sche, scho, and related forms. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English heo is the probable source. en.wiktionary.org
- The proposed development involves a shift in stress and a change from /hj-/ to /ʃ-/. en.wikipedia.org
- Under that derivation, the earlier forms are Proto-West Germanic *hiju and Proto-Germanic *hijō, glossed as this or this one. en.wiktionary.org
- The proposed ancestry extends to Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-, *ḱey-, meaning this or here. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English seo, meaning that one and occasionally she, is a possible but less likely source. en.wiktionary.org