InModern English,she is asingular,feminine,third-personpronoun.
InStandard Modern English,she has four shapes representing five distinct wordforms:[1]
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Old English had a single third-person pronoun – from theProto-Germanicdemonstrative base*khi-, fromPIE *ko-'this'[3] – which had a plural and threegenders in the singular. In earlyMiddle English, one case was lost, and distinct pronouns started to develop. The modern pronounit developed out of the neuter, singular in the 12th century.Her developed out of the feminine singular dative and genitive forms. The older pronoun had the following forms:
| Case | Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | ||
| Nominative | hē | hit | hēo | hī(e) |
| Accusative | hine | hit | hīe | hī(e) |
| Dative | him | him | hire | him /heom |
| Genitive | his | his | hire | hira /heora |
The evolution ofshe is disputed.[4]: 118 By Middle English, it was found in the formschē[5][ʃeː],[a] but how it arrived there is unclear. Some sources propose it evolved from thedemonstrative pronoun:
[...] probably evolving from Old Englishseo,sio (accusativesie), fem. of demonstrative pronoun (masc.se)'the', from PIE root *so-'this,that' (seethe).[6]
Others propose it descends directly from the third-person feminine pronoun:
In Middle English, the Old English system collapses, due to the gradual loss ofþe and the replacement of the paradigmse,seo,þæt by indeclinablethat.[4]: 296
A more likely account is what is sometimes called the 'Shetland Theory', since it assumes a development parallel to that ofShetland < OScand.Hjaltland,Shapinsay <Hjalpandisey, etc. The starting point is the morphologically and chronologically preferablehēo. Once again we have syllabicity shift and vowel reduction, giving[heo̯] >[he̯o] >[hjoː]. Then[hj-] >[ç-], and[ç-] >[ʃ-], giving final[ʃoː].[4]: 118
This does not lead to the modern formshe/ʃiː/.
So any solution that gets[ʃ] from/eo/ also needs to 'correct' the resultant/oː/ (outside the north) to/eː/. This means an analogical transfer of (probably) the/eː/ ofhe.[4]: 118
None of this is entirely plausible.[citation needed]
The-self forms developed in early Middle English, withhire self becomingherself.[7] By the 15th century, the Middle English forms ofshe had solidified into those we use today.[4]: 120
Historically,she was encompassed inhe ashe had threegenders in Old English. The neuter and feminine genders split off during Middle English. Today,she is the only feminine pronoun in English.
She is occasionally used as agender neutral, third-person, singular pronoun (see alsosingular they).[1]: 492
She can appear as asubject,object,determiner orpredicative complement.[1] The reflexive form also appears as anadjunct.She occasionally appears as amodifier in a noun phrase.
Pronouns rarely takedependents, but it is possible forshe to have many of the same kind of dependents as othernoun phrases.
She'sreferents are generally limited to individual,femalepersons, excluding the speaker and the addressee.She is alwaysdefinite and usuallyspecific.
The pronounshe can also be used to refer to an unspecified person, as inIf you see someone in trouble, helpher.[b]
She has traditionally been used for ships, but can also be used for otherinanimate objects of significance to the owner.[8]
She can also be used for countries as political entities, but not as geographical entities.[1]: 487
Many Englishstyle guides discourage the use ofshe for countries or inanimate objects;[8][9] such use may be considered dated or sexist.[10][11]
"She" may refer to a particulargoddess or to a monotheistic God when regarded as female. In this case it may be written "She" withreverential capitalization.
In 1999,she was selected as theword of the millennium by theAmerican Dialect Society.[12]
schē,seeschēo. [...]schēo, pron.,she
When a pronoun is used to refer to a vessel, the neuterit orits (rather thanshe orher) is preferred.
Useit andits in reference to countries, ships and boats. In such contexts,she,her andhers evoke dated stereotypes of the roles of women and men.
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