his
Language: English
Part of speech: det
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɪ̈z/
note: weak vowel merger
ipa: /əz/
ipa: /hɪz/
ipa: /ˈhɘz/
rhymes: -ɪz
Forms: form: His
Etymology: From Middle English his, from Old English his (“his; its”), from Proto-Germanic *hes (“of this”), genitive of Proto-Germanic *hiz (“this, this one”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-, *ḱey- (“this”). Cognate with Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic hans (“his”). More at he; see also its.
Senses: examples: text: With that he put his ſpurres vnto his ſteed,
 With ſpeare in reſt, and toward him did fare,
 Like ſhaft out of a bow preuenting ſpeed.
ref: 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IIII, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 41:
text: No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 46:
text: In his first televised address since the siege in Abidjan began this week, Ouattara said he would focus on returning the country to normal to ease the plight of civilians.
ref: 2011 April 8, Xan Rice, “Ivory Coast: 100 more bodies found as ethnic tensions rise”, in The Guardian:
glosses: Belonging to him.
examples: text: On the contrary, those other passions, commonly denominated selfish, both produce different sentiments in each individual, according to his particular situation […]
ref: 1751, David Hume, “(please specify the page)”, in An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:
text: It is our conviction that piecemeal critiques of nontheisms will not suffice. The theist must enter the arena with a positive and comprehensive case of his own.
ref: 2003, Norman L. Geisler, Winfried Corduan, Philosophy of Religion: Second Edition, page 9:
glosses: Belonging to a person of unspecified gender.
examples: text: In ſo moche that if any verbe be of the thyꝛde coniugation
 I ſet out all his rotes and tenſes[…]
ref: 1530 July 18, Iohan Palſgrave, “The Introduction”, in Leſclarciſſement de la langue francoyſe […] , London: Richard Pynſon, Iohan Haukyns, →OCLC, page 32; reprinted as Lesclarcissement de la langue françoyse, Genève: Slatkine Reprints, 1972:
text: My ſtomacke could not well reach ſo farre: it is very much troubled to come to an end of that which it takes for his neede.
ref: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, “Of Drunkennesse”, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, page 200:
text: Yee are the ſalt of the earth: But if the ſalt haue loſt his ſauour, wherewith ſhall it bee ſalted?
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 5:13, column 1:
glosses: Its; belonging to it. (Now only when implying personification.)
examples: text: Ahab his mark
text: Sejanus his Fall
glosses: Used as a genitive marker in place of ’s after a noun, especially a masculine noun ending in -s, to express the possessive case.
Derived terms: Hislam
his nibs
his nabs