pronoun (n.)

"word used instead of a noun to avoid repetition of it," mid-15c., from Old French pronon, pronom, and directly from Latin pronomen "word standing in place of a noun," from pro, here meaning "in place of," + nomen "name, noun" (from PIE root *no-men- "name"). The Latin word is a loan-translation of Greek antonymia. The form of the English and French words was altered to conform with noun.

also from mid-15c.

Entries linking to pronoun

noun (n.)

in grammar, "a name; word that denotes a thing (material or immaterial)," late 14c., from Anglo-French noun "name, noun," from Old French nom, non (Modern French nom), from Latin nomen "name, noun" (from PIE root *no-men- "name"). Old English used name to mean "noun." In old use also including adjectives (as noun adjective). Related: Nounal.

pronominal (adj.)

"belonging to or of the nature of a pronoun," 1670s, from Late Latin pronominalis (Priscian) "pertaining to a pronoun," from Latin pronomen (see pronoun). Pronomial also is used in the same sense. Related: Pronominally.

*no-men-

pro-

See all related words (4) >

Trends of pronoun

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to Explore

she

"the female person referred to," third person nominative fem. pronoun, used as a substitute for the name of a female or anything...being used in place of the pronoun (compare similar development in Dutch zij, German sie, Greek he, etc.)....A relic of the Old English pronoun is in Manchester-area dialectal oo "she."...The attempted gender-neutral pronoun form s/he is attested by 1977....

its

neuter possessive pronoun; late 16c., from it + genitive/possessive ending 's (q.v.)....The neuter genitive pronoun in Middle English was his, but the clash between grammatical gender and sexual gender, or else...In literary use, his as a neuter pronoun continued into the 17c....In Middle English, simple it sometimes was used as a neuter possessive pronoun (c. 1300)....

themselves

mid-15c. in northern dialect, standard from 1540s, alteration of Middle English tham-self, emphatic plural pronoun, also...reciprocal pronoun (14c.); see them + self, with self, originally an inflected adjective, treated as a noun with a meaning...

their

plural possessive pronoun, c. 1200, from Old Norse þierra "of them," genitive of plural personal and demonstrative pronoun...

our

Old English ure "of us, pertaining to or belonging to us," genitive plural of the first person pronoun, from Proto-Germanic...usa, Old Frisian use, Old High German unsar, German unser, Gothic unsar "our"), from PIE *nes-, oblique case of personal pronoun...

they

from a Scandinavian source (Old Norse þeir, Old Danish, Old Swedish þer, þair), originally masculine plural demonstrative pronoun..., from Proto-Germanic *thai, nominative plural pronoun, from PIE *to-, demonstrative pronoun (see that)....

thou

2nd nominative singular personal pronoun, Old English þu, from Proto-Germanic *thu (source also of Old Frisian thu, Middle...and Middle Low German du, Old High German and German du, Old Norse þu, Gothic þu), from PIE *tu-, second person singular pronoun...["Hickscorner," c. 1530] A brief history of the second person pronoun in English can be found here....

demonstrative

late 14c., demonstratif, "characterized by logic, based on logic, showing or making manifest the truth or existence (of something)," from Old French démonstratif (14c.) and directly from Latin demonstrativus "pointing out, demonstrating," from demonstrat-, past-participle stem of

angel

"one of a class of spiritual beings, attendants and messengers of God," a c. 1300 fusion of Old English engel (with hard -g-) and Old French angele. Both are from Late Latin angelus, from Greek angelos, literally "messenger, envoy, one that announces," in the New Testament "divin

daffodil

1540s, "asphodel," a variant of Middle English affodill "asphodel" (c. 1400), from Medieval Latin affodillus, from Latin asphodelus, from Greek asphodelos, which is of unknown origin. The initial d- is perhaps from merging of the article in Dutch de affodil, the Netherlands being

Share pronoun

‘cite’

Page URL:

https://www.etymonline.com/word/pronoun

HTML Link:

<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/pronoun">Etymology of pronoun by etymonline</a>

APA style:

Harper, D. (n.d.). Etymology of pronoun. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved $(datetime), from https://www.etymonline.com/word/pronoun

Chicago style:

Harper Douglas, “Etymology of pronoun,” Online Etymology Dictionary, accessed $(datetime), https://www.etymonline.com/word/pronoun.

MLA style:

Harper, Douglas. “Etymology of pronoun.” Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/pronoun. Accessed $(datetimeMla).

IEEE style:

D. Harper. “Etymology of pronoun.” Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/pronoun (accessed $(datetime)).

updated on December 11, 2020

Remove ads >

Dictionary entries near pronoun

pronate

pronation

prone

prong

pronominal

pronoun

pronounce

pronounceable

pronounced

pronouncement

pronto