Word.ws English Dictionary

that's what she said

that's what she said phrase: a joking retort that draws attention to the possibility of sexual innuendo in what was just said.

Phrase

that's what she said

  1. (humorous, idiomatic) A joking retort that draws attention to the possibility of sexual innuendo in what was just said.
    • Coordinate term: that's what he said
    • Arthur: "That assignment took me all week to finish. It was so long and hard."
      Bob: "That's what she said."

Examples of that's what she said in a sentence

  • "No matter what you say," said one student, "someone is going to respond with ‘That's what she said.’ "2008 March 2, Ron Fletcher, “In the Internet Age, a few lessons about bad jokes, good taste”, in Boston Globe, retrieved 07 Apr 2009:
  • "Can't you make it bigger?" she asked. (Go ahead, insert your own "that's what she said" joke here.2008 November 24, Rick Broida, “Quick Tip: Increase the Font Size in Your Browser”, in PCWorld.com, retrieved 07 Apr 2009:

Origin of that's what she said

First attested in the early 20th century. She refers to the speaker's imagined sexual partner.

Questions about that's what she said

What does that's what she said mean?
That's what she said means a joking retort that draws attention to the possibility of sexual innuendo in what was just said.
How do you use that's what she said in a sentence?
"No matter what you say," said one student, "someone is going to respond with ‘That's what she said.’ "
What part of speech is that's what she said?
That's what she said is a phrase.

Words near that's what she said in the dictionary

  1. that's torn it
  2. that's wassup
  3. that's what he said
  4. that's what I call
  5. that's what I'm talking about
  6. that's what she said
  7. that's what's up
  8. that's why
  9. that's why they play the game
  10. that's your lot
  11. that's your sort

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: that's what she said (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-that's what she said-male.ogg, En-au-that's what she said.ogg.

Cite this entry: “that's what she said.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/that%27s_what_she_said. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.