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PlainSpell

he

UK [hiː]pronoun, determiner, noun, interjection

he is spelled H-E: 2 letters and one syllable. It appears 4,898 times per million words in written English, the 23rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a pronoun, he means “A person who identifies as male, or animal already known or implied” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in he?

Letters2: H-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing4,898 times per million words; the 23rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is he?

He appears 4,898 times per million words in written English, the 23rd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce he?

  • /ˈhiː/
  • UK [hiː]
  • British [hɪj]

As a noun (“The name of the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets…”): /heɪ/.

He has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-he.ogg, En-us-he.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with he

Also written: hee, hei, hey, she or he.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of he

  • him
  • himself
  • his
  • hes plural
  • hay
  • hei
  • hey

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does he mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

pronoun

  1. 1

    masculineA person who identifies as male, or animal already known or implied.

    That friend of your cousin's, he's on the phone.

  2. 2

    masculineproscribedThey; he or she (a person whose gender is unknown or irrelevant).

    The rulebook clearly states that "if any student is caught cheating, he will be expelled", and you were caught cheating, were you not, Anna?

  3. 3

    masculineproscribedIt; an animal whose gender is unknown.

  4. 4

    masculineA genderless object regarded as masculine, such as certain stars or planets (e.g. Sun, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter) or certain ships.

determiner

  1. 1

    Synonym of his.

noun

  1. 1

    The game of tag, or it, in which the player attempting to catch the others is called "he".

  2. 2

    The player who chases and attempts to catch the others in this game.

  3. 3

    informalA male.

    Is your cat a he or a she?

  4. 4

    The name of the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others).

  5. 5

    The name of the first letter of the Old South Arabian abjad.

interjection

  1. 1

    An expression of laughter.

    (more common)

pronoun

as He
  1. 1

    masculineHonorific alternative letter-case form of he, sometimes used when referring to God or another important figure who is understood from context.

    I love the Lord for He is Great and Holy.

noun

as HE
  1. 1

    Initialism of high explosive.

  2. 2

    Initialism of higher education.

  3. 3

    Initialism of health education.

  4. 4

    Initialism of His Excellency / Her Excellency.

  5. 5

    Initialism of His Eminence.

  6. 6

    Initialism of home entertainment.

  7. 7

    Initialism of human era (“current epoch”).

  8. 8

    Abbreviation of hydroelectricity.

adjective

as HE
  1. 1

    Abbreviation of hydroelectric.

phrase

as HE
  1. 1

    Initialism of how embarrassing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

He in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchil (personal pronoun "he"), hè, hê, he (fifth letter of the various Semitic alphabets)
Germaner (personal pronoun "he")
Portugueseele (personal pronoun "he")
Spanishél (personal pronoun "he"), Él (pronoun for God)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does he come from?

From Middle English he, from Old English hē, from Proto-West Germanic *hiʀ, from Proto-Germanic *hiz (“this, this one”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱís (“this”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after he