Her
det, name, noun, pron, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A female person or animal. informal
"I think this bird is a him, but it may be a her."
- 1 Belonging to her (belonging to that female person or animal, or in poetic or old-fashioned language that ship, city, season, etc).
"This is her book"
- 2 Belonging to a person of unspecified gender (to counterbalance the traditional "his" in this sense).
"Begin by having students choose a short poem to memorize; they will enjoy searching the library for a poem that appeals to them. If a student wishes to memorize her poem and share it aloud with the rest of the class, suggest a buddy system."
- 1 The form of she used after a preposition, as the object of a verb, or (colloquial) as a subject with a conjunction; that woman, that ship, etc, or (dialect) as a subject without a conjunction.
"Give it to her (after preposition)"
- 2 Honorific alternative letter-case form of her, sometimes used when referring to God or another important figure who is understood from context. alt-of, honorific
"It is certain that Juan Diego was a virtuous man, who tried to direct his life along the road of righteousness, of honesty, of virtue, and to make all that pleased God bloom, who was chosen by the Mother of God Herself to be Her [i.e. the mother's] messenger."
- 1 Abbreviation of Hercules. abbreviation, alt-of
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"I can't tell her now. It's not that simple anymore."
Etymology
From Middle English here, hir, hire, from Old English hire (“her”), from Proto-Germanic *hezōi (dative and genitive singular of *hijō). Cognate with North Frisian hör, Saterland Frisian hier, hiere (“her”), West Frisian har (“her”), Dutch haar (“her”), German Low German hör (“her”), German ihr (“her”).
Related phrases
More for "her"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.