who

Meanings

1. 1
   pron

   Used to ask about the identity of a person or people.

   Who is that man over there?

2. 2
   pron

   Used to give more information about a person already mentioned.

   That's the woman who works at the bakery.

3. 3
   pron

   The person or people that.

   Who breaks the rules will be punished.

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, We…

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External links

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