she

A1 Topic:Grammar & Function Words

US /ʃi/ UK /ʃiː/ See IPA manual

Minimal pairs

Sounds like see /s/ vs /ʃ/

Freq #41

Meanings

1

pron
Used to refer to a female person or animal mentioned earlier.

I asked Mary, but she said that she didn't know.
2

pron
Used to refer to a ship, country, or sometimes a machine.

The ship was old, but she could still do forty knots in good weather.
3

noun
A female person or animal.

We didn't know the kitten's sex, but the vet confirmed it was a she.

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms shesshoo’llshoo’s

Derived forms he-said-she-saidhe-sheheorshem-she-ushe-apeshe-buffaloshe-e-oshe-heshe-lionshe-ogreshe-typesheanderthal

Related forms he herherselfhersenhershernhimhimselfhisselfhissenhishishisnimeithititselfhitselfitshis

Appears in

Tongue twisters (2)

See all

Betty Botter
Betty Botter bought some butter. “But,” she said, “this butter’s bitter; If I put it in my batter, It will make my batter bitter; But a bit of better butter Will but make my batter better.” So she bought a bit of butter Better than the bitter butter, And made her bitter batter better. So it was better Betty Botter Bought a bit of better butter.

Compare the vowels in bit, better, batter and butter while keeping /b/ steady. Use your normal accent for the middle consonant of Betty, ...
The Fish-Sauce Shop
She stood at the door of Mrs. Smith’s fish-sauce shop in the Strand welcoming him in.

Separate the /s/ in sauce from the /ʃ/ in fish and shop. In Smith’s, move from /θ/ into the final /s/ before beginning fish.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English sche, scho, hyo, ȝho (“she”), whence also Yorkshire dialectal shoo (“she”), Scots she, sho (“she”). Probably from Old English hēo (whence dialectal English hoo), with an irregular change in stress from hēo to heō /hjoː/, then a development from /hj-/ to /ç/ to /ʃ-/, similar to the derivation of Shetland from Old Norse Hjaltland. In this case, she is from Proto-West Germanic *hiju, from Proto-Germanic *hijō f (“this, this one”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-, *ḱey- (“this, here”), and is cognate with Saterland Frisian jo, ju, West Frisian hja, North Frisian jü, Dan…

sche Middle English hēo Old English *hiju Proto-West Germanic *hijō Proto-Germanic *ḱe- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Grammar & Function Words

External links

# she

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A1
**Part of speech:** pron, noun
**IPA (US):** /ʃi/
**IPA (UK):** /ʃiː/
**Frequency rank:** 41

## Meanings
1. Used to refer to a female person or animal mentioned earlier.
2. Used to refer to a ship, country, or sometimes a machine.
3. A female person or animal.

## Examples
- I asked Mary, but she said that she didn't know.
- The ship was old, but she could still do forty knots in good weather.
- We didn't know the kitten's sex, but the vet confirmed it was a she.

## Derived Forms
- he-said-she-said
- he-she
- heorshe
- m-she-u
- she-ape
- she-buffalo
- she-e-o
- she-he
- she-lion
- she-ogre
- she-type
- sheanderthal

## Related Forms
- he
- her
- herselfhersen
- hershern
- him
- himselfhisselfhissen
- his
- hishisn
- ime
- ithit
- itselfhitself
- itshis

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: sche
- Root: hēo
- Root: *hiju
- Root: *hijō
- Root: *ḱe-

## Etymology
Inherited from Middle English sche, scho, hyo, ȝho (“she”), whence also Yorkshire dialectal shoo (“she”), Scots she, sho (“she”). Probably from Old English hēo (whence dialectal English hoo), with an irregular change in stress from hēo to heō /hjoː/, then a development from /hj-/ to /ç/ to /ʃ-/, similar to the derivation of Shetland from Old Norse Hjaltland. In this case, she is from Proto-West Germanic *hiju, from Proto-Germanic *hijō f (“this, this one”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-, *ḱey- (“this, here”), and is cognate with Saterland Frisian jo, ju, West Frisian hja, North Frisian jü, Dan…

## AI Etymology
She is inherited from Middle English sche, scho, hyo, ȝho (“she”), whence also Yorkshire dialectal shoo (“she”), Scots she, sho (“she”). Probably from Old English hēo (whence dialectal English hoo), with an irregular change in stress from hēo to heō /hjoː/, then a development from /hj-/ to /ç/ to /ʃ-/, similar to the derivation of Shetland from Old Norse Hjaltland. Important forms in the word's history include Middle English sche, Old English hēo, Proto-West Germanic *hiju, Proto-Germanic *hijō, Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-. In current use it includes senses such as Used to refer to a female person or animal mentioned earlier and Used to refer to a ship, country, or sometimes a machine.

## Topics
- Grammar & Function Words

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she