whom
Part of speech: pron
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: From Middle English whom, wham, from Old English hwām, hwǣm, from Proto-Germanic *hwammai, dative case of *hwaz (“who, what”). Cognate with Scots wham (“whom”), German wem (“whom, to whom”), Danish hvem (“who, whom”), Swedish vem (“who, whom”).
Inflected forms:
form: of who
pos: pron
tags: objective
plural
singular
form: whome
pos: pron
tags: alternative
obsolete
Senses:
gloss: What person or people; which person or people.
pos: pron
tags: formal
interrogative
often
examples: Whom did you ask?
“Oh?” she said. “So you have decided to revise my guest list for me? You have the nerve, the – the –” I saw she needed helping out. “Audacity,” I said, throwing her the line. “The audacity to dictate to me who I shall have in my house.” It should have been “whom”, but I let it go. “You have the –” “Crust.” “– the immortal rind,” she amended, and I had to admit it was stronger, “to tell me whom” – she got it right that time – “I may entertain at Brinkley Court and who” – wrong again – “I may not.”
gloss: What person or people; which person or people.
pos: pron
tags: formal
interrogative
often
examples: To whom are you referring?
With whom were you talking?
The stories did not seem to me to touch life. They were plainly intended to have a bracing moral effect, and perhaps had this result for the people at whom they were aimed.
He read the letter aloud. Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement.
“A very hearty pip-pip to you, old ancestor,” I said, well pleased, for she is a woman with whom it is always a privilege to chew the fat. “And a rousing toodle-oo to you, you young blot on the landscape,” she replied cordially.
The principal economic activity is copra production, the Government copra plantation covering some 5,170 ha. The population in 1989 was estimated at 2,000, the great majority of whom live in London, Banana and Poland villages in the west.
gloss: Used to refer to a previously mentioned person or people.
pos: pron
tags: formal
often
relative
examples: That is the woman whom I spoke to earlier. (defining)
Mr Smith, whom we all know well, will be giving the speech. (non-defining)
He's a person with whom I work (defining)
We have ten employees, half of whom are carpenters. (non-defining)
There is a new girl in the class whom I consider to be a wunderkind.
She felt miserable unless she had neighbors with whom to quarrel regularly.
“Anthea hasn't a notion in her head but to vamp a lot of silly mugwumps. She's set her heart on that tennis bloke[…]whom the papers are making such a fuss about.”
The eminent brain specialist to whom she alluded was a man I would not have cared to lunch with myself, our relations having been on the stiff side since the night at Lady Wickham's place in Hertfordshire when, acting on the advice of my hostess's daughter Roberta, I had punctured his hot-water bottle with a darning needle in the small hours of the morning. Quite unintentional, of course.
A woman shooting pool whom you know has red hair even though the photograph is black and white.
gloss: The person(s) whom; whomever.
pos: pron
tags: formal
often
examples: To whom it may concern, all business of John Smith Ltd. has now been transferred to Floggitt & Runne.
gloss: Also used with names of collective nouns that are groups of people, especially singularly-named musical groups or sports teams.
pos: pron
tags: formal
informal
often
examples: Whom was Lemmy bassist for? Motörhead!
Derived words: to whom it may concern
to whom this may concern
whom am I kidding
whomever
whom're
who whom
Translations:
lang: Afrikaans
word: wie
lang: Arabic
word: مَنْ
roman: man
lang: Armenian
word: ում
roman: um
lang: Asturian
word: quién
lang: Asturian
word: quienes
lang: Bulgarian
word: кого
roman: kogo
lang: Catalan
word: qui
lang: Catalan
word: quins
lang: Ngazidja Comorian
word: nɗo
lang: Ngazidja Comorian
word: nɗopvi
lang: Czech
word: koho
lang: Czech
word: kterého
lang: Danish
word: hvem
lang: Finnish
word: kenet
lang: Finnish
word: ketkä
lang: French
word: que
lang: German
word: wen
lang: Haitian Creole
word: kimoun
lang: Hindi
word: किस
roman: kis
lang: Hungarian
word: kit
lang: Hungarian
word: kicsodát
lang: Ido
word: quan
lang: Italian
word: chi
lang: Latin
word: quem
lang: Latin
word: quam
lang: Latvian
word: kam
lang: Macedonian
word: кого
roman: kogo
lang: Mari
word: кӧм
roman: köm
lang: Middle English
word: whom
lang: Norwegian Bokmål
word: hvem
lang: Norwegian Nynorsk
word: kven
lang: Occitan
word: que
lang: Polish
word: kogo
lang: Portuguese
word: o que
lang: Portuguese
word: (for nonhumans) o quê
lang: Portuguese
word: quem
lang: Russian
word: кого́
roman: kovó
lang: Russian
word: кому́
roman: komú
lang: Russian
word: кем
roman: kem
lang: Russian
word: ком
roman: kom
lang: Spanish
word: quién
lang: Spanish
word: quiénes
lang: Swedish
word: vem
lang: Swedish
word: vilka
lang: Tagalog
word: kanino
lang: Tamil
word: எவன்
roman: evaṉ
lang: Tamil
word: எவள்
roman: evaḷ
lang: Tamil
word: எவர்
roman: evar
lang: Turkish
word: kimi
lang: Ukrainian
word: кого́
roman: kohó
lang: Ukrainian
word: кому́
roman: komú
lang: Volapük
word: kimi
lang: Welsh
word: pwy
lang: Arabic
word: مَنْ
roman: man
lang: Armenian
word: ում
roman: um
lang: Bulgarian
word: кому
roman: komu
lang: Czech
word: komu
lang: Czech
word: kterému
lang: Danish
word: hvem
lang: Esperanto
word: kiu
lang: Esperanto
word: kiuj
lang: Esperanto
word: kiun
lang: Esperanto
word: kiujn
lang: Finnish
word: kenen
lang: Finnish
word: keltä
lang: Finnish
word: keneltä
lang: Finnish
word: keiltä
lang: French
word: qui
lang: German
word: wem
lang: Haitian Creole
word: kimoun
lang: Italian
word: chi
lang: Latin
word: cui
lang: Macedonian
word: кому
roman: komu
lang: Middle English
word: whom
lang: Norwegian Bokmål
word: hvem
lang: Norwegian Nynorsk
word: kven
lang: Occitan
word: a qui
lang: Occitan
word: qui
lang: Polish
word: komu
lang: Portuguese
word: o que
lang: Portuguese
word: (for nonhumans) o quê
lang: Portuguese
word: quem
lang: Russian
word: кого́
roman: kovó
lang: Russian
word: кому́
roman: komú
lang: Russian
word: кем
roman: kem
lang: Russian
word: ком
roman: kom
lang: Spanish
word: quién
lang: Spanish
word: quiénes
lang: Spanish
word: cuyo
lang: Swedish
word: vem
lang: Swedish
word: vilka
lang: Tamil
word: யார்
roman: yār
lang: Ukrainian
word: кого́
roman: kohó
lang: Ukrainian
word: кому́
roman: komú
lang: Ukrainian
word: ким
roman: kym
lang: Volapük
word: kime