whom

A2 Topic:Grammar & Function Words

US /huːm/ See IPA manual

Freq #1335

Meanings

1

pron
Used instead of 'who' as the object of a verb or preposition to ask which person.

Whom did you invite to the party?
2

pron
Used to refer to a person already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition.

That is the man whom I spoke to earlier.

Thesaurus

Word family

Derived forms whom'rewhomever

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”).

*kʷ- Proto-Indo-European whom Middle English hwām Old English *hwammai Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Grammar & Function Words

External links

# whom

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** pron
**IPA (US):** /huːm/
**Frequency rank:** 1335

## Meanings
1. Used instead of 'who' as the object of a verb or preposition to ask which person.
2. Used to refer to a person already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition.

## Examples
- Whom did you invite to the party?
- That is the man whom I spoke to earlier.

## Derived Forms
- whom're
- whomever

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *kʷ-
- Root: whom
- Root: hwām
- Root: *hwammai

## 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”).

## AI Etymology
Whom is 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”). Important historical forms include Proto-Indo-European *kʷ-, Middle English whom, Old English hwām, and Proto-Germanic *hwammai. In present-day use, it can mean used instead of 'who' as the object of a verb or preposition to ask which person, or used to refer to a person already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition.

## Topics
- Grammar & Function Words

markdown