# her

> English word · Determiner · IPA /ˈhɜː/ · frequency rank #58

## Definitions
1. Belonging to her (belonging to that female person or animal, or in poetic or old-fashioned language that ship, city, season, etc).
2. Belonging to a person of unspecified gender (to counterbalance the traditional "his" in this sense).

## Etymology
From Middle English here, hir, hire, from Old English hire (“her”), from Proto-Germanic *hezōi (dative and genitive singular of *hijō).
Cognate with North Frisian hör, Saterland Frisian hier, hiere (“her”), West Frisian har (“her”), Dutch haar (“her”), German Low German hör (“her”), German ihr (“her”).

## Easily confused with
- **hi** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/her-vs-hi)
- **ho** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/her-vs-ho)
- **HR** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/her-vs-hr)
- **HP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/her-vs-hp)
- **hm** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/her-vs-hm)
- **HQ** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/her-vs-hq)
- **Hu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/her-vs-hu)
- **HK** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/her-vs-hk)
- **HG** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/her-vs-hg)
- **HH** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/her-vs-hh)
- **hv** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/her-vs-hv)
- **hn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/her-vs-hn)
- **his** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/her-vs-his)
- **how** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/her-vs-how)
- **him** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/her-vs-him)
- **hit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/her-vs-hit)
- **hot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/her-vs-hot)
- **hey** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/her-vs-hey)
- **hip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/her-vs-hip)
- **hop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/her-vs-hop)

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/her