him

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English him, inherited from Old English him,^[2][3][4] originally the dative singular of the Old English pronouns that became he and it; the masculine accusative was then hine.^[4][5][6][7] It is cognate with Old Frisian him, Old Dutch himo and Dutch hem,^[4][8] and forms from a base without h- run parallel: Old Saxon imu, Old High German imu, German ihm and the dative of Gothic 𐌹𐍃 (is).^[4][8] Etymonline derives the stem from Proto-Germanic *hi-,^[9] a marginally attested pronoun meaning "this", for which Kroonen reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *ki-;^[10] Etymonline takes that as a variant of *ko-, the "this, here" root.^[9] Wiktionary gives the Germanic dative as *himmai (“to this, to this one”).^[1] The OED calls the details of the further etymology of the third-person pronouns in the Germanic languages uncertain.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To him, for him, as an indirect object or after a preposition: before 855, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,^[5] where the OED has the prepositional use in the annal for 838 and the indirect object in the annal for 855.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Old English the word was only a dative, and could also refer to neuter things.^[5][4] It then took over the work of the accusative hine, and became the general object form.^[11][9] The sources date this shift differently: late Old English in Ayto,^[11] the 10th to the 15th century in Etymonline,^[9] and the 12th to the 14th century in Barnhart;^[5] the Middle English Dictionary says that a replacement begun in Old English went on in Middle English.^[2] The neuter dative developed separately, as the form hit, it,^[5] although Johnson (1755) still noted that him was once used in a neutral sense.^[12] The old accusative may survive in the southern English dialect forms un and n.^[9][11][7] Early on it also served as a reflexive, "himself", which is now archaic, Caribbean or regional American.^[4][13] Wright records dialect forms such as am, em, hem and um.^[14] Merriam-Webster also has a noun, "a man or boy", quoting Dickens's "four hims and a her",^[15] and American drug slang used him for heroin.^[16]

Timeline

• before 855 – indirect object, originally the dative.^[5][4]
• 10th century – begins to replace hine as the direct object.^[9]
• 15th century – the replacement of hine is complete.^[9]
• 1969 – slang, heroin.^[16]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. The object form of he, used for a male person or animal already mentioned or easily identified: as direct object, indirect object, or after a preposition: The neighbours invited him to supper and saved him a seat beside them.^[13][15][4]
2. Used for a thing personified or treated by convention as male.^[4][8]
3. Referring back to a singular noun or pronoun of undetermined gender.^[4]
4. (archaic or regional) Himself, as a reflexive: He bought him a new hat.^[4][13][8]
5. (colloquial) Used as a subject, in place of he, in a clause with no finite verb: Him being so tall, we let him reach the shelf.^[4]

Noun

1. A man or boy.^[15]
2. (slang) Heroin.^[16]

Related words

• he
• himself
• his
• it
• 'em

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
8. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
15. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
16. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com