who
/huː/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/hʉw/
who pronoun: what person or people; which person or people; asks for the identity of someone; used in a direct or indirect question.
Pronoun (1)
who (singular or plural, nominative case, objective whom, who, possessive whose)
- What person or people; which person or people; asks for the identity of someone; used in a direct or indirect question.
- You're getting married‽ Who to? (direct question)
- I don't know who it is. (indirect question)
- With antecedent as subject.
- That's the man who works at the newsagent. (defining)
- My sister, who works in the accounts department, just got promoted to manager. (non-defining)
- With antecedent as object: whom.
- That's the man who I saw earlier.
- My brother, who you met the other day, is coming to stay for the weekend.
- Whoever, he who, they who.
- Who dares wins.
- Who insults my mother insults me.
- Also used with names of collective nouns that are groups of people, especially singularly-named musical groups or sports teams.
- Who are the Miami Heat?
Noun
who (plural whos)
- A person under discussion; a question of which person.
- A wham-bam caper flick, efficiently directed by Roger Donaldson, that fancifully revisits the mysterious whos and speculative hows of a 1971 London bank heist.2008 March 21, The New York Times, “Movie Guide and Film Series”, in New York Times
Determiner
who
- whose
- Who phone just rang?
Pronoun (2) capitalized: Who
Who
- Honorific alternative letter-case form of who, sometimes used when referring to God or another important figure who is understood from context.
- I make my pilgrimage to Thee
O God, Who art the pilgrim's hope!
Praised be the Virgin, sweet and pure!
Be gracious to the pilgrimage.2008, Music for Sight Singing, →ISBN, page 254
- I make my pilgrimage to Thee
Proper noun (1) capitalized: Who
Who
- The television show Doctor Who.
- After three event episodes in a row (the finale, Christmas special and season opener), “Tooth and Claw” is the first “regular” episode of Who we've had in a while.2012, Graeme Burk, Robert Smith., Who Is the Doctor: The Unofficial Guide to Doctor Who, →ISBN, page 78
- This is as wildly different to any episode of Who so far. It's fab.2015, Ray Dexter, Doctor Who Episode By Episode: Volume 1 William Hartnell, →ISBN
Proper noun (2) capitalized: WHO
IPA/ˈdʌbəljuː ˈeɪt͡ʃ ˈəʊ/
WHO or the WHO
- Initialism of World Health Organization.
- Trump initiated the year-long withdrawal process from the WHO in 2020 but six months later his successor, President Joe Biden, reversed the decision.2024 December 23, Maggie Fick and Ahmed Aboulenein, “Trump transition team plans immediate WHO withdrawal, expert says”, in Reuters
who meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
who in Hindi
- who (relative pronoun)
- जो jo
- who? (interrogative pronoun)
- कौन kaun
who in Tamil
- who? (interrogative pronoun)
- யார் yār, எவர் evar, எவன் evaṉ
who in Urdu
- who (relative pronoun)
- جو jo
- who? (interrogative pronoun)
- کَون kaun
who in Bengali
- who? (interrogative pronoun)
- কে ke
More languagesFewer languages
- who in Telugu
- ఎవరు evaru
- who in Malayalam
- ആര് ārŭ
- who in Punjabi
- ਕੌਣ kauṇă
- who in Gujarati
- જે je, કોણ koṇ
- who in Sanskrit
- कः kaḥ
- who in Sinhala
- කවුද kawuda
- who in Tagalog
- na, sino
- who in Arabic
- اَلَّذِي allaḏī, اَلَّتِي allatī, اَللَّذَانِ al-laḏāni, اَللَّتَانِ al-latāni
- who in Malay
- siapa
- who in Indonesian
- yang, siapa
- who in Persian
- کِه ke, کِی kī, کی ki
- who in Thai
- ผู้ pûu, ใคร krai
- who in Vietnamese
- người, ai
- who in Myanmar
- ဘယ်သူ bhaisu
- Kashmiri
- کُس kus, کۄس kọs
Examples of who in a sentence
- Who says they care? —They themselves do.
- Who is coming to your party? Who are your favourite singers?
- Give it to who deserves it.
Forms of who
| Pronoun | |
|---|---|
| objective | whom |
| objective | who |
| possessive | whose |
| Noun | |
| plural | whos |
| Proper noun | |
| alternative form | W.H.O. |
| alternative form | W. H. O. |
Origin of who
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, West Frisian wa, Dutch wie, Low German we, German wer, Swedish vem, Danish hvem, Norwegian Bokmål hvem, Norwegian Nynorsk kven, Icelandic hver.
Words formed from who
- abandon hope, all ye who enter here
- all hope abandon ye who enter here
- all things come to those who wait
- anybody who is anybody
- anybody who is anyone
- anyone who is anybody
- anyone who is anyone
- as who should say
- dance with the one who brought ya
- dance with the one who brought you
- dance with the one who brung ya
- dance with the one who brung you
- do you know who I am
- everybody who is anybody
- everybody who is anyone
- everyone who is anybody
- everyone who is anyone
- evil be to him who evil thinks
- God helps them who help themselves
- God helps those who help themselves
- good things come to those who wait
- heaven helps those who help themselves
- he who denied it supplied it
- he who digs a pit for others falls in himself
- he who hesitates is lost
- he who laughs last laughs best
- he who laughs last laughs hardest
- he who pays the piper calls the tune
- he who said the rhyme did the crime
- he who smelt it dealt it
- he who sups with the devil should have a long spoon
- it's not what you know but who you know
- lady who lunches
- leave with the one who brought ya
- leave with the one who brought you
- leave with the one who brung ya
- leave with the one who brung you
- let he who is without sin cast the first stone
- let him who is without sin cast the first stone
- literally who
- look like who did it and ran
- look who the cat dragged in
- one who hesitates is lost
- people who live in glass houses should not throw stones
- people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones
- raise the flag and see who salutes
- says who
- send it up the flagpole and see who salutes
- shame be to him who thinks evil of it
- shame to him who thinks ill of it
- the Lord helps those who help themselves
- there are none so blind as those who will not see
- there's none so blind as those who will not see
- those who have get
- those who have get more
- those who live in glass houses should not throw stones
- those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones
- those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those doing it
- though I say it who should not
- though I say it who should not say it
Phrases with who
- who so
- Joe Who
- who knew
- who whom
- who cares
- who knows
- who's who
- literal who
- who are you
- who hurt you
- who shot John
- who goes there
67 more phrasesFewer phrases
- ladies who lunch
- who am I kidding
- who wants to know
- new phone, who dis
- those who have, get
- who are you telling
- who woulda thunk it
- people who have, get
- who ate all the pies
- who would have known
- who's who in the zoo
- who would've thunk it
- who writes this stuff
- you ask me, I ask who
- those who can't, teach
- who would have guessed
- dog who caught the tire
- vote blue no matter who
- who would have thunk it
- those who have, get more
- who do you think you are
- who put a quarter in you
- who watches the watchers
- people who have, get more
- She Who Must Not Be Named
- those who can't do, teach
- who would have thought it
- who died and made you boss
- who died and made you king
- who died and made you queen
- looks like who did it and ran
- looked like who did it and ran
- who was your servant last year
- looking like who did it and ran
- taught someone who was the boss
- who died and gave you the reins
- who died and left you in charge
- who died and made you president
- look like who did it and ran away
- who pays the piper calls the tune
- abandon all hope ye who enter here
- looks like who did it and ran away
- abandon all hope, ye who enter here
- all hope abandon, ye who enter here
- looked like who did it and ran away
- raised the flag and saw who saluted
- looking like who did it and ran away
- raised the flag and seen who saluted
- raises the flag and sees who salutes
- who took the jam out of your doughnut
- raising the flag and seeing who salutes
- here's a quarter, call someone who cares
- he who fails to prepare, prepares to fail
- here's a quarter, call somebody who cares
- with friends like that, who needs enemies
- run it up the flagpole, to see who salutes
- with friends like these, who needs enemies
- with friends like those, who needs enemies
- sent it up the flagpole and saw who saluted
- sent it up the flagpole and seen who saluted
- sends it up the flagpole and sees who salutes
- who are you and what have you done with someone
- sending it up the flagpole and seeing who salutes
- there are none so deaf as those who will not hear
- who keeps company with wolves, will learn to howl
- who keeps company with the wolf will learn to howl
- those who will not when they may, when they will they shall have nay
Words that rhyme with who
Questions about who
- What does who mean?
- Who means what person or people; which person or people; asks for the identity of someone; used in a direct or indirect question.
- What is who in Hindi?
- Who in Hindi is जो (jo), कौन (kaun). See Who meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use who in a sentence?
- Who says they care? —They themselves do.
- What part of speech is who?
- Who can be a pronoun, a noun, a determiner or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce who?
- Who is pronounced /huː/ (UK).
Words near who in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: who (page history and authors); Who (page history and authors); WHO (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-who.wav, En-us-who.ogg.
Cite this entry: “who.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/who. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.