different between with vs who

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English with, from Old English wiþ (“against, opposite, toward, with”), from Proto-Germanic *wiþi, a shortened form of Proto-Germanic *wiþr? (“against”), from Proto-Indo-European *wi-tero- (“more apart”), from Proto-Indo-European *wi (“separation”). Cognate with Old Frisian with (“against, again, in exchange”), Old Saxon with (“against, again, toward, with”), Danish ved (“by, near, with”), Swedish vid (“by, next to, with”), Elfdalian wið (“at, by, beside”). Related to Old English wiþer (“against, in opposition to”), Dutch weder (“again”) and weer (“again, opposite”), Low German wedder (“again, against, opposite”), German wider (“against”) and wieder (“again”). In Middle English, the word shifted to denote association rather than opposition, displacing Middle English mid (“with”), from Old English mid (“with”), from Proto-Germanic *midi, cognate with Old-Frisian mith (“with”), Modern West Frisian mei (“with”), Old Norse með (“with”), Icelandic með (“with”), Dutch met (“with”), and German mit (“with”).

Alternative forms

• wyth (obsolete)
• whith (obsolete)
• (abbreviations): w^th, w^t (obsolete); w/, w
• (eye dialect): wi', wit, wit', wid, wif, wiv

Pronunciation

preconsonantal, final

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /w??/, (less often) /w?ð/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /w??/, (less often) /w?ð/
• (General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /w?ð/, /w??/
• Rhymes: -??, -?ð
• (UK) IPA^(key): /w?ð/, (less often) /w??/
  • (Yorkshire) IPA^(key): /w?i/
  • (Cockney) IPA^(key): /w?v/
• Rhymes: -?ð

prevocalic

• (UK) IPA^(key): /w?ð/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /w??/, (less often) /w?ð/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /w??/
• Rhymes: -?ð, -??

Preposition

with

1. Against.
   • 1621, John Smith, The Proceedings of the English Colony in Virginia [1]

     Many hatchets, knives, & pieces of iron, & brass, we see, which they reported to have from the Sasquesahanocks a mighty people, and mortal enemies with the Massawomecks.

2. In the company of; alongside, close to; near to.
3. In addition to; as an accessory to.

4. Used to indicate simultaneous happening, or immediate succession or consequence.
   • 1590, Sir Philip Sidney, The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia,

     With that she told me that though she spake of her father, whom she named Chremes, she would hide no truth from me: […]

   • 1697, Virgil, John Dryden (translator), Aeneid, in The Works of Virgil,

     With this he pointed to his face, and show'd

     His hand and all his habit smear'd with blood.

   • 1861, Alexander Pope, The Rev. George Gilfillan (editor) The Fourth Pastoral, or Daphne, in The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope,

     See where, on earth, the flowery glories lie,

     With her they flourish'd, and with her they die.

   • 1994, Stephen Fry, The Hippopotamus Chapter 2

     With a bolt of fright he remembered that there was no bathroom in the Hobhouse Room. He leapt along the corridor in a panic, stopping by the long-case clock at the end where he flattened himself against the wall.
5. In support of.

6. In regard to.
7. (obsolete) To denote the accomplishment of cause, means, instrument, etc; – sometimes equivalent to by.
   • 1300s?, Political, Religious and Love Poems, “An A B C Poem on the Passion of Christ”, ed. Frederick James Furnivall, 1866

     Al þus with iewys I am dyth, I seme a wyrm to manus syth.

   • He was torn to / pieces with a bear:

   • 1669, Nathaniel Morton, New England’s Memorial

     He was sick and lame of the scurvy, so as he could but lie in the cabin-door, and give direction, and, it should seem, was badly assisted either with mate or mariners
8. Using as an instrument; by means of.
   • 1430?, “The Love of Jesus” in Hymns to the Virgin and Christ, ed. Frederick James Furnivall, 1867, p.26

     Þirle my soule with þi spere anoon,

   • 1619, Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, A King and no King, Act IV

     you have paid me equal, Heavens, / And sent my own rod to correct me with

   • 1620, William Bradford. Of Plymouth Plantation [2]

     They had cut of his head upon the cudy of his boat had not the man reskued him with a sword,

   • 1677, William Wycherley, The plain-dealer, Prologue

     And keep each other company in spite, / As rivals in your common mistress, fame, / And with faint praises one another damn;
9. (obsolete) Using as nourishment; more recently replaced by on.

   • I am fain to dine and sup with water and bran.

10. Having, owning.
11. Affected by (a certain emotion or condition).

12. Prompted by (a certain emotion).

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:with.

Derived terms

• what with
• withness
• with it
• be with

Synonyms

• w/
• c? (medicine)

Antonyms

• without
• against

Translations

Adverb

with (not comparable)

1. (US) Along, together with others, in a group, etc.

Etymology 2

From Middle English withe, wiþþe, from Old English wiþþe. More at withe.

Noun

with (plural withs)

1. Alternative form of withe

Anagrams

• Whit, whit

Middle English

Preposition

with

1. Alternative form of wiþ

Old Saxon

Etymology

A shortened form of withar (against), cognate with Old English wiþ (“against, opposite, toward”) and wiþer.

Preposition

with

1. against, with, toward
   • (Heliand, verse 1883)

Related terms

• withar
• with-
• withar-

English

Etymology

From Middle English who, hwo, huo, wha, hwoa, hwa, from Old English hw? (dative hw?m, genitive hwæs), from Proto-Germanic *hwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *k?os, *k?is.

The sound change /hw/ > /h/ (without a corresponding change in spelling) due to wh-cluster reduction after an irregular change of /a?/ to /o?/ in Middle English (instead of the expected /??/) and further to /u?/ regularly in Early Modern English. Compare how, which underwent wh-reduction earlier (in Old English), and thus is spelt with h.

Compare Scots wha, West Frisian wa, Dutch wie, Low German we, German wer, Danish hvem, Norwegian Bokmål hvem, Norwegian Nynorsk kven, Icelandic hver.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ho?o, IPA^(key): /hu?/
• Rhymes: -u?

Pronoun

who (singular or plural, nominative case, objective whom, who, possessive whose)

1. (interrogative) What person or people; which person or people; asks for the identity of someone. (used in a direct or indirect question)

   Who is that? (direct question)

   I don't know who it is. (indirect question)

2. (interrogative) What is one's position; asks whether someone deserves to say or do something.

   I don't like what you did, but who am I to criticize you? I've done worse.

3. (relative) The person or people that.

   Her sister who worked here is an enemy of his.
4. (relative) Whoever, he who, they who.
   • 1603, William Shakespeare, Othello, act III, scene 3

     Who steals my purse steals trash.

   It was a nice man who helped us.

Usage notes

• Who is a subject pronoun. Whom is an object pronoun. To determine whether a particular sentence uses a subject or an object pronoun, rephrase it to use he/she or him/her instead of who, whom; if you use he or she, then you use the subject pronoun who; if you use him or her, then you use the object pronoun. The same rule applies to whoever and whomever.

• Who can also be used as an object pronoun, especially in informal writing and speech (hence one hears not only whom are you waiting for? but also who are you waiting for?), and whom may be seen as (overly) formal; in some dialects and contexts, it is hardly used, even in the most formal settings. As an exception to this, fronted prepositional phrases almost always use whom, e.g. one usually says with whom did you go?, not *with who did you go?. However, dialects in which whom is rarely used usually avoid fronting prepositional phrases in the first place (for example, using who did you go with?).

• The use of who as an object pronoun is proscribed by many authorities, but is frequent nonetheless. It is usually felt as much more acceptable than the converse hypercorrection in which whom is misused in place of who, as in *the gentleman whom spoke to me.

• For more information, see "who" and "whom" on Wikipedia.

• When “who” (or the other relative pronouns “that” and “which”) is used as the subject of a relative clause, the verb agrees with the antecedent of the pronoun. Thus “I who am...”, “He who is...”, “You who are...”, etc.
• Formerly sometimes with partitive of, where which is ordinarily used

Translations

Noun

who (plural whos)

1. A person under discussion; a question of which person.

Determiner

who

1. (interrogative, dialect, African-American Vernacular) whose

   Who phone just rang?

Anagrams

• How, how

Middle English

Alternative forms

• wha, hwoa, huo, hwo

Etymology

From Old English hw?, from Proto-West Germanic *hwa?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???/

Pronoun

who

1. who

Descendants

• English: who
  • Northumbrian: whee, wheea
• Scots: quha, quhay, wha
• Yola: fho

References

• “wh?, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.