who
Part of speech: pron
noun
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: From Middle English who, hwo, huo, wha, hwoa, hwa, from Old English hwā (dative hwām, genitive hwæs), from Proto-West Germanic *hwaʀ, from Proto-Germanic *hwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷos, *kʷís.
The sound change /hw/ > /h/ (without a corresponding change in spelling) was due to wh-cluster reduction after an irregular change of /ɑː/ to /oː/ in Middle English (instead of the expected /ɔː/) and further to /uː/ regularly in Early Modern English. A similar change occurred in two. 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, Swedish vem, Danish hvem, Norwegian Bokmål hvem, Norwegian Nynorsk kven, Icelandic hver.
Inflected forms:
form: whom
pos: pron
tags: objective
form: who
pos: pron
tags: objective
form: whose
pos: pron
tags: possessive
form: whos
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: What person or people; which person or people; asks for the identity of someone; used in a direct or indirect question.
pos: pron
tags: interrogative
nominative
plural
singular
examples: You're getting married‽ Who to? (direct question)
I don't know who it is. (indirect question)
Who says they care? —They themselves do.
Who is coming to your party? Who are your favourite singers?
Ia[go]. Hee’s married. Caſ[ſio]. To who? […] Ia[go]. Marry to. ---- Come Captaine, will you goe? Oth[ello]. Ha, with who?
gloss: Introduces a relative clause having a human antecedent.
pos: pron
tags: nominative
plural
relative
singular
examples: That's the man who works at the newsagent. (defining)
My sister, who works in the accounts department, just got promoted to manager. (non-defining)
Chorban: I don't really think my scanning disturbs them, but the authorities might disagree.
Chorban: I'd like to do it more openly, but it's not really worth getting arrested over.
Shepard: I could help you out. I'm not worried about the authorities.
Chorban: I don't even know who you are.
Despite personal schisms and differences in spiritual experience, there is a very coherent theology of Snape shared between the wives. To examine this manifestation of religious fandom, I will first discuss the canon scepticism and anti-Rowling sentiment that helps to contextualise the wider belief in Snape as a character who extends beyond book and film.
gloss: Introduces a relative clause having a human antecedent.
pos: pron
tags: nominative
plural
relative
singular
examples: That's the man who I saw earlier.
My brother, who you met the other day, is coming to stay for the weekend.
gloss: Whoever, he who, they who.
pos: pron
tags: nominative
plural
singular
examples: Who insults my mother insults me.
Give it to who deserves it.
Who steals my purse steals trash.
gloss: Also used with names of collective nouns that are groups of people, especially singularly-named musical groups or sports teams.
pos: pron
tags: informal
nominative
plural
singular
examples: Who are the Miami Heat?
gloss: A person under discussion; a question of which person.
pos: noun
examples: A wham-bam caper flick, efficiently directed by Roger Donaldson, that fancifully revisits the mysterious whos and speculative hows of a 1971 London bank heist.
Translations:
lang: Southern Altai
word: кем
roman: kem
lang: Arabic
word: اَلَّذِي
roman: allaḏī
lang: Arabic
word: اَلَّتِي
roman: allatī
lang: Arabic
word: اَللَّذَانِ
roman: al-laḏāni
lang: Arabic
word: اَللَّتَانِ
roman: al-latāni
lang: Arabic
word: اَلَّذِينَ
roman: allaḏīna
lang: Arabic
word: اَللَّاتِي
roman: al-lātī
lang: Arabic
word: اَللَّائِي
roman: al-lāʔī
lang: Arabic
word: اللَّوَاتِي
roman: al-lawātī
lang: Arabic
word: الي
roman: illi
lang: Arabic
word: اللي
roman: illi
lang: Armenian
word: որ
roman: or
lang: Armenian
word: որը
roman: orə
lang: Asturian
word: quien
lang: Asturian
word: quienes
lang: Azerbaijani
word: hansı ki
lang: Belarusian
word: які́
roman: jakí
lang: Belarusian
word: яка́я
roman: jakája
lang: Bulgarian
word: кое́то
roman: koéto
lang: Bulgarian
word: ко́йто
roman: kójto
lang: Bulgarian
word: която
roman: kojato
lang: Bulgarian
word: които
roman: koito
lang: Chamicuro
word: na'shanana
lang: Corsican
word: chi
lang: Czech
word: který
lang: Czech
word: kteří
lang: Danish
word: som
lang: Dutch
word: die
lang: Dutch
word: wie
lang: Dutch
word: dat
lang: Dutch
word: wat
lang: Esperanto
word: kiu
lang: Estonian
word: kes
lang: Faroese
word: sum
lang: Faroese
word: ið
lang: Finnish
word: joka
lang: Finnish
word: jonka
lang: Finnish
word: jotka
lang: French
word: qui
lang: Old French
word: qui
lang: Old French
word: ki
lang: Old French
word: cui
lang: West-Frisian
word: wa't
lang: German
word: der
lang: German
word: die
lang: German
word: das
lang: Gothic
word: 𐍃𐌰𐌴𐌹
roman: saei
lang: Gothic
word: 𐍃𐍉𐌴𐌹
roman: sōei
lang: Gothic
word: 𐌸𐌰𐍄𐌴𐌹
roman: þatei
lang: Greek
word: ο οποίος
roman: o opoíos
lang: Greek
word: η οποία
roman: i opoía
lang: Greek
word: το οποίο
roman: to opoío
lang: Ancient Greek
word: ὅς
roman: hós
lang: Ancient Greek
word: ὅσος
roman: hósos
lang: Ancient Greek
word: οἷος
roman: hoîos
lang: Gujarati
word: જે
roman: je
lang: Hebrew
word: אֲשֶׁר
roman: 'ashér
lang: Hindi
word: जो
roman: jo
lang: Hungarian
word: aki
lang: Hungarian
word: akik
lang: Icelandic
word: sem
lang: Ido
word: qua
lang: Ido
word: qui
lang: Indonesian
word: yang
lang: Ingrian
word: kumpa
lang: Interlingua
word: qui
lang: Irish
word: a
lang: Italian
word: che
lang: Kumyk
word: ким
roman: kim
lang: Northern Kurdish
word: ku
lang: Northern Kurdish
word: yê ku
lang: Northern Kurdish
word: ya ku
lang: Northern Kurdish
word: yên ku
lang: Kyrgyz
word: ким
roman: kim
lang: Latgalian
word: kurs
lang: Latin
word: qui
lang: Latin
word: quae
lang: Latin
word: quod
lang: Latvian
word: kas
lang: Latvian
word: kurš
lang: Limburgish
word: dae
lang: Limburgish
word: wae
lang: Macedonian
word: кој
roman: koj
lang: Macedonian
word: којшто
roman: kojšto
lang: Macedonian
word: која
roman: koja
lang: Macedonian
word: којашто
roman: kojašto
lang: Macedonian
word: кое
roman: koe
lang: Macedonian
word: коешто
roman: koešto
lang: Macedonian
word: кои
roman: koi
lang: Macedonian
word: коишто
roman: koišto
lang: Maltese
word: li
lang: Māori
word: ai
lang: Middle English
word: who
lang: Old English
word: þe
lang: Old Norse
word: er
lang: Old Norse
word: sem
lang: Old Norse
word: es
lang: Old Saxon
word: the
lang: Iranian Persian
word: کِه
roman: ke
lang: Polish
word: który
lang: Portuguese
word: que
lang: Portuguese
word: quem
lang: Rapa Nui
word: aai
lang: Romanian
word: care
lang: Russian
word: что
roman: što
lang: Russian
word: кото́рый
roman: kotóryj
lang: Russian
word: кото́рая
roman: kotóraja
lang: Russian
word: кто
roman: kto
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: ко̏
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: тко̏
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: ко̀јӣ
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: kȍ
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: tkȍ
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: kòjī
lang: Slovak
word: čo
lang: Slovak
word: ktorý
lang: Slovene
word: kdó
lang: Upper Sorbian
word: kotryž
lang: Spanish
word: quien
lang: Sundanese
word: anu
lang: Sundanese
word: nu
lang: Swedish
word: som
lang: Tagalog
word: na
lang: Thai
word: ผู้
roman: pûu
lang: Tocharian A
word: kusne
lang: Tocharian B
word: kᵤse
lang: Tok Pisin
word: husat
lang: Ukrainian
word: хто
roman: xto
lang: Ukrainian
word: що
roman: ščo
lang: Ukrainian
word: ко́трий
roman: kótryj
lang: Urdu
word: جو
roman: jo
lang: Vietnamese
word: người
lang: Volapük
word: kel
lang: Welsh
word: sydd
lang: Welsh
word: sy
lang: Welsh
word: a
lang: Welsh
word: y
lang: Zealandic
word: dien-a
lang: Zealandic
word: die-a