her

her

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Herero.

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Herero terms

• herė

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”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhɜː/, unstressed IPA^(key): /ə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈhɝ/, [hɹ̩] unstressed IPA^(key): /ɚ/, [ɹ̩]
• (Canada) IPA^(key): [ˈhɚː], unstressed IPA^(key): [ɚ]
  • (Dialectal) IPA^(key): [ˈ(h)əɹ]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /hɛr/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /høː/
• (Liverpool, fair–fur merger) IPA^(key): /heː/
• (Humberside, Teesside, fair–fur merger) IPA^(key): /hɛː/
• (Lancashire, fair–fur merger) IPA^(key): /hɜː(ɹ)/
• Homophones: hair, hare (both fair–fur merger); a (non-rhotic, unstressed form)
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)

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

   • 1928, The Journal of the American Dental Association, page 765:

     Prodigal in everything, summer spreads her blessings with lavish unconcern, and waving her magic wand across the landscape of the world, she bids the sons of men to enter in [...]

   • 1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 1:

     Her crew knew that deep in her heart beat engines fit and able to push her blunt old nose ahead at a sweet fourteen knots, come Hell or high water.

   • 2001, Betsy Gould Hearne, Wishes, Kisses, and Pigs, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 78:

     On top of the circle she wrote her name, Louise, just above where the 12 on a clock would be.

   • 2010, Andrew Lambert, Nelson: Britannia's God of War, Faber & Faber, →ISBN:

     On 24 April Nelson rejoined his ship, her battle damage repaired […]

2. Belonging to a person of unspecified gender (to counterbalance the traditional "his" in this sense).
   • 2017, David Yellin, Essentials of Integrating the Language Arts, page 115:

     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.

her

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)

   He wrote her a letter (indirect object)

   He treated her for a cold (direct object)

   Him and her went for a walk (with a conjunction; proscribed)

   Her's a bosting wench! (as a subject wihout a conjunction; dialectal)

   • February 1896, Ground-swells, by Jeannette H. Walworth, published in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine; page 183:

     "Then what became of her?"

     "Her? Which ‘her’? The park is full of ‘hers’."

     "The lady with the green feathers in her hat. A big Gainsborough hat. I am quite sure it was Miss Hartuff."

   • 1897, Hamilton Kingsford, Vigornian Monologues: A Series of Papers in Illustration of the Dialect of Worcestershire‎^[2], page 18:

     I means to goo to th' mop, 'er sez, fur I waants a chahinge. […] 'T wuz to w:Muckley mop 'er went.

   • 1913, D. H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, Penguin Lawrence Edition, Penguin, published 1994, →ISBN, page 213:

     “I’ll bet ’er wor a toe-rag,” said Morel, following up his joke. ¶ “Don’t you be so cheeky about a queen,” said Annie.

   • 1950, C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe:

     "It's all right," he was shouting. "Come out, Mrs. Beaver. Come out, Sons and Daughters of Adam and Eve. It's all right! It isn't her!" This was bad grammar of course, but that is how beavers talk when they are excited; I mean, in Narnia—in our world they usually don't talk at all.

   • 2013, James Tully, The Crimes of Charlotte Brontë:

     Every day I had to watch as him and her went off for long walks together, and each night I had to go to my lonely, cold bed with the thought that they were sharing the same one […]

   • 2019, “Am Yow A Yam Yam”‎^[3]performed by Johnny Cole:

     "What's 'er say?" 'Er said: "Am yow a Yam Yam?", Ah said "Ar bab, I am!".

her (plural hers)

1. (informal) A female person or animal.

   I think this bird is a him, but it may be a her.

   • 1986, Hélène Cixous, Sorties (translated)

     […] daring dizzying passages in other, fleeting and passionate dwellings within the hims and hers whom she inhabits […]

   • 2004, Charles J. Sullivan, Love and Survival, page 68:

     By this time, she had so many questions, but she only hit him up for one answer about those “hims” and “hers.” She asked, “Do both hims and hers reproduce hummers?”

• she

• EHR, Ehr, HRE, reh

• heru, hjeru

From Latin ferrum. Compare Daco-Romanian fier, Spanish hierro.

her n (plural heari or heare)

1. iron

• hirar

her

1. mixed mutation of ger

• IPA^(key): [ˈɦɛr]

her f

1. genitive plural of hra

From Old Norse hér.

• IPA^(key): /hɛr/, [hɛɐ̯], [heɐ̯]

her

1. here

From Middle Dutch her. Cognate with Old High German hera (“hither”) and likely Gothic 𐌷𐌹𐍂𐌹 (hiri).

• IPA^(key): /ɦɛr/

• Audio:

  (file)

her

1. (obsolete outside fixed expressions) here
2. (obsolete outside fixed expressions) hither

• Not in common usage, "hier" is rather used. "her" is only used in expressions like the ones below.

• IPA^(key): /heːɹ/

From Old Norse hér.

her

1. here

From herur.

her

1. indefinite accusative singular of herur

From Middle High German her, from Old High German hera. Cognate to German Low German her.

• IPA^(key): /heːr/, [heːɐ̯], [hɛɐ̯]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: Heer, hehr, Herr (common merger)
• Rhymes: -eːɐ̯

her

2. hither, to this place, to here, to me/us

   Komm her!

   Come here!

3. ago

   Es ist zehn Jahre her, dass ich das letzte Mal Auto gefahren bin.

   Ten years ago was the last time I drove a car.

• hin

• her-

• “her” in Duden online
• “her” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

hēr

1. romanization of 𐌷𐌴𐍂

From Old Norse herr.

• IPA^(key): /hɛːr/
• Rhymes: -ɛːr

her m (genitive singular hers, nominative plural herir or (archaic/obsolete) herjar)

1. army, military

• Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989) Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, →ISBN (Available at Málið.is under the “Eldri orðabækur” tab.)
• Kristín Bjarnadóttir, editor (2002–2025), “her”, in Beygingarlýsing íslensks nútímamáls [The Database of Modern Icelandic Inflection] (in Icelandic), Reykjavík: The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies
• Mörður Árnason (2019) Íslensk orðabók, 5th edition, Reykjavík: Forlagið
• “her” in the Dictionary of Modern Icelandic (in Icelandic) and ISLEX (in the Nordic languages)

From hieër.

her m

1. vocative singular of hieër

Inherited from Old English hǣr, from Proto-West Germanic *hār, from Proto-Germanic *hērą.

• er, hair, haire, har, hare, hær, hear, heer, heere, heir, here, herre, heyr, hier, hor, hore

• IPA^(key): /hɛːr/, /heːr/

her (plural heres)

2. (countable) a hair (follicular growth on the skin)
   • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎^[4], published c. 1410, Apocalips 1:14, page 117v; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

     ⁊ þe heed of him ⁊ his heeris weren whiyt as whiyt wolle .· ⁊ as ſnow / ⁊ þe iȝen of him as flawme of fier .·

     And his head and his hairs were white, like white wool or snow, and his eyes were like fire's flame.

   • 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Wyfe of Bathes Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC:

     Tho rad he me how sāpson lost his heeres

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

3. (uncountable) hair (follicular growths on the skin)
   • a. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Knight's Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, lines 3690–3691:

     But first he cheweth greyn and lycorys / To smellen sweete, er he hadde kembd his heer.

     Though first he chews spices and licorice, / To smell sweet before he'd combed his hair.

4. pelt, hide, animal skin
5. Something similar in appearance to hair (e.g. a botanical hair)
6. (figurative) small part, any part (of a person)

• hors her
• hery

• English: hair
  • → Russian: хаер (xajer)
  • →⇒ Russian: хайратник (xajratnik)
• Scots: hair, hayr, hare
• Yola: haar

• “hēr, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 16 May 2018.

Inherited from Old English hēr, *hǣr, from Proto-West Germanic *hēr, from Proto-Germanic *hē₂r.

• ar, er, ere, hare, hær, hære, heir, here, herre, hier, hiere, hir, hire, hyer, hyre

• IPA^(key): /heːr/, /hɛːr/

her

1. here

• English: here
• Scots: here, her
• Yola: here, haar

• “hẹ̄r, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

her

1. alternative form of hire (“her”, genitive)

her

1. alternative form of hire (“hers”)

her

1. alternative form of hire (“her”, object)

her

1. alternative form of here (“their”)

her

1. alternative form of here (“pleasant”)

her (heres)

1. alternative form of here (“haircloth”)

her

1. alternative form of herre (“hinge”)

her

1. alternative form of here (“army”)

her (heres)

1. alternative form of heir (“heir”)

her

1. alternative form of heren (“to hear”)

her

1. alternative form of herre: comparative degree of heigh (“high”)

her

1. her: third-person singular, feminine, objective
2. her: third-person singular, feminine, possessive

her

1. inflection of haa:
   1. first/third-person singular preterite
   2. plural preterite
   3. past participle

From Proto-Indo-Iranian *sárwas.

Central Kurdish	هەر (her)
Southern Kurdish	هەر (her)

her

1. every, each

   herkes

   everyone

2. ever, always

   Her bi jî!

   Long live! (lit. "Ever live!")

From Old Norse hér.

• IPA^(key): /hæːr/

her

1. here

• herfra, herifra

• “her” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /hæːr/, /heːr/
• Homophone: hær

From Old Norse hér.

her

1. here

   Det er fint å vera her.

   It's nice to be here.

2. just now, recently

   Eg såg ho her ein dag.

   I saw her just the other day.

her m (definite singular heren, indefinite plural herar, definite plural herane)

1. (pre-2012) alternative form of hær

• “her” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• ᚻᛖᚱ (her) — Franks Casket

• IPA^(key): /xeːr/, [heːr]

From Proto-West Germanic *hēr, from Proto-Germanic *hē₂r, apparently from the stem *hi- (“this”); the exact formation is unclear. Cognate with Old Saxon hēr, Old High German hiar, Old Norse hér, Gothic 𐌷𐌴𐍂 (hēr).

hēr

1. here
   • late 10th century, Ælfric, the Old English Hexateuch, Genesis 46:2

     God hine ġehīerde and cleopode hine and cwæþ tō him, "Iācōb, Iācōb"! And hē him andswarode and cwæþ, "Hēr iċ eom!"

     God heard him and called out, "Jacob, Jacob!" And he answered him and said, "Here I am!"

• Middle English: her, here, heer
  • English: here
  • Scots: her, here

hēr n (Anglian, late Kentish)

1. alternative form of hǣr

Strong a-stem:

From Proto-West Germanic *hār. Cognates include Old English hǣr, Old Saxon hār and Old Dutch hār.

• IPA^(key): /ˈheːr/, [ˈhɛːr]

hēr n

1. hair

• North Frisian:

  Föhr-Amrum: hiar

  Goesharde: heer, häär

  Halligen: heer

  Heligoland: Hear

  Mooring: häär

  Sylt: Hiir

  Wiedingharde: heer

• Saterland Frisian: Híer
• West Frisian: hier

• Bremmer, Rolf H. (2009) An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN

From Proto-Germanic *hairaz.

hēr (comparative hērro or hērōro)

1. gray-haired, old
2. noble, venerable

• Middle High German: hēr
  • German: hehr

From Proto-West Germanic *hiʀ, from Proto-Germanic *hiz.

hër

1. (northern dialects) alternative form of ër

• Middle High German: hër, hë
  • Central Franconian:
    • Moselle Franconian: ä, en (from the accusative)

      Eifelisch: hän, hen, en

      • Luxembourgish: hien, en
    • Ripuarian:

      Aachensch: he

      Kölsch: hä, ä

  • East Central German:

    Lusatian-New Marchian: hä

    Thuringian:

    North Thuringian: he, hä

  • Rhine Franconian:

    Hessian:

    Low Hessian: he, hä

    South Hessian: he

  • Vilamovian: hār

her

1. accusative/dative singular of herr

From Persian هر (har). Cognate with Bengali হর (hor, “every”), Latin salvus (“safe, whole”), Ancient Greek ὅλος (hólos, “complete, whole”).

• (Jiezi, Gaizi, Mengda, Chahandusi, Hanbahe, Baizhuang, Xunhua, Qinghai) IPA^(key): [her]
• (Mengda, Xunhua, Qinghai) IPA^(key): [heɹ]
• (Baizhuang, Xunhua, Qinghai) IPA^(key): [hær]
• (Qingshui, Xunhua, Qinghai) IPA^(key): [hɑ]

her

1. every

• her gün (“every day”)

• Tenishev, Edhem (1976) “her”, in Stroj salárskovo jazyká [Grammar of Salar], Moscow, pages 333-334

her

1. obsolete spelling of hacer

• “her”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

From Ottoman Turkish هر, from Persian هر (har). Cognate with Bengali হর (hor, “every”), Latin salvus (“safe, whole”), Ancient Greek ὅλος (hólos, “complete, whole”). Doublet of salvo.

• IPA^(key): /hæɾ/, /heɾ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æɾ

her

1. every
2. each

her (nominative plural hers)

1. hair

Compare English here, used in an interjectory sense as in "here! shoo! go on!"

• IPA^(key): /hɛr/

her f (plural heriau, not mutable)

1. challenge

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “her”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

• IPA^(key): /hɛr/

From Middle English here, from Old English hire, from Proto-West Germanic *heʀē.

her

1. her
   • 1867, “THE BRIDE'S PORTION”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, pages 102^[1]:

     A portion ich gae her, was (it's now ich have ee-tolth)

     The portion I gave her was (it's now I have told)

From Middle English hire, from Old English hire, from Proto-West Germanic *heʀā.

her

1. her
   • 1927, “ZONG OF TWI MAARKEET MOANS”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 129, lines 6^[2]:

     An awi gome her egges wi a wheel an car taape,

     And away went her eggs, with the car overset.

   • 1927, “ZONG OF TWI MAARKEET MOANS”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 129, lines 8^[2]:

     Shu ztaared, clappu her baashes an up wi punaan,

     She stared, clapped her palms, and up with lament,

Related to Persian هر (har).

her

1. each

Related to Persian خر (xar).

her

1. donkey