different between she vs shes

English

Etymology

From Middle English sche, hye, from earlier scho, hyo, ?ho, a phonetic development of Old English h?o, h?o, from Proto-Germanic *hij? f (“this, this one”), from Proto-Indo-European *?e-, *?ey- (“this, here”). Cognate with English dialectal hoo, Scots scho, shu, Saterland Frisian jo, ju, West Frisian hja, North Frisian jü, Danish hun, Swedish hon. More at he.

Despite the similarity in appearance, the Old English feminine demonstrative s?o (“that”) (the cognate of Dutch zij and German sie) is probably not the source of Middle English forms in sch-. Rather, the sch- developed out of a change in stress upon hío resulting in hió, spelt ?ho (?h = h?, compare wh = hw, lh = hl, etc.), and the h was palatalised into the sh sound. Similar alteration can be seen in the name Shetland, from Old Norse Hjaltland; ?ho is the immediate parent form of Middle English scho and sche.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?i?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?i/
• Rhymes: -i?
• Homophones: sidhe, Xi, shee

Pronoun

she (third-person singular, feminine, nominative case, oblique and possessive her, possessive hers, reflexive herself)

1. (personal) The female (typically) person or animal previously mentioned or implied.
2. (personal, sometimes endearing) A ship or boat.

3. (personal, dated, sometimes endearing, old-fashioned) A country, or sometimes a city, province, planet, etc.

4. (personal, endearing or poetic, old-fashioned) Any machine or thing, such as a car, a computer, or (poetically) a season.
   • 1928, The Journal of the American Dental Association, page 765:

     Prodigal in everything, summer spreads her blessings with lavish unconcern, and waving her magic wand across the landscape of the world, she bids the sons of men to enter in and possess. Summer is the great consummation.

5. (personal, nonstandard) A person whose gender is unknown or irrelevant (used in a work, along with or in place of he, as an indefinite pronoun).
   • 1990, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow

     Optimal experience is thus something that we make happen. For a child, it could be placing with trembling fingers the last block on a tower she has built, higher than any she has built so far; for a swimmer, it could be trying to beat his own record; for a violinist, mastering an intricate musical passage.

Usage notes

• Since at least the 1920s and 30s, some gay or queer men refer to other gay or queer men and/or themselves with she/her pronouns, as well as with other feminine terms such as Miss and girl, to signal their sexuality rather than their gender identity; this has sometimes been termed "the gay she":

Translations

See also

Determiner

she

1. (African-American Vernacular) Synonym of her

Noun

she (plural shes)

1. A female.

   Pat is definitely a she.

   • Come, come, we know very well what all the matter is; but if one won’t, another will; so pretty a gentleman need never want a lady. I am sure, if I was you, I would see the finest she that ever wore a head hanged, before I would go for a soldier for her.

   • 2000, Sue V. Rosser, Building inclusive science volume 28, issues 1–2, page 189:

     A world where the hes are so much more common than the shes can hardly be seen as a welcoming place for women.

References

Anagrams

• EH&S, EHS, Esh, HSE, ehs, esh, he's, hes, hse

Albanian

Etymology

A derivative of shi.

Noun

she m (indefinite plural she, definite singular sheu, definite plural shetë)

1. undrying rivulet

Related terms

• shi

Mandarin

Romanization

she

1. Nonstandard spelling of sh?.
2. Nonstandard spelling of shé.
3. Nonstandard spelling of sh?.
4. Nonstandard spelling of shè.

Usage notes

• English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

Manx

Etymology

From Old Irish is ed (“it is so”). Compare Irish sea, Scottish Gaelic seadh.

Particle

she (dependent form nee)

1. Present/future copula form

   (definition: predicate is indefinite)

   (identification: predicate is definite)

   (cleft sentence)

   (cleft sentence)

Usage notes

Used in present and future sentences for identification or definition of a subject as the person/object identified in the predicate of the sentence. Used to introduce cleft sentences, which are extremely common in Manx. It is not a verb. For the particle that introduces adjectives, see s'.

She has no past tense; the appropriate conjugation of ve must be used instead.

Middle English

Pronoun

she

1. Alternative form of sche

English

Noun

shes

1. plural of she

Anagrams

• Hess, sesh

Albanian

Etymology

A prefixal deverbative in -es attested in pres. Original meaning 'to cut off, divide, separate in a share'.

Verb

shes (first-person singular past tense shita, participle shitur)

1. I sell, estimate

Antonyms

• blej

Derived terms

• shitje
• shitore

References

Aromanian

Alternative forms

• shesu

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin sessus. Cf. Romanian ?es, and also Albanian shesh.

Adjective

shes (feminine shasã, masculine plural shesh, feminine plural shasi/shase)

1. flat, level (as in an open country)

See also

• cãmpu