Etymologically
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whose

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:39. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /huːz/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English whos, inherited from Old English hwæs, the genitive of hwā (“who”) and hwæt (“what”),[2][3][4][5] from Proto-Indo-European *kwo-, the stem of relative and interrogative pronouns.[2][3] Early Middle English hwās, hwōs was altered, with a lengthened vowel, by association with hwā, hwō, the source of who and whom.[6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

“Of whom, belonging to whom”: about 897.[7] Merriam-Webster dates the adjective to before the 12th century.[8]

Semantic evolution

As a relative introducing a defining clause it is from about 1200, and introducing an additional statement from about 1175.[7] In reference to things, inanimate or abstract, it is from 1382, originally as the genitive of what.[7] The pronoun used alone, as in whose is this?, is from the 12th century.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 897 – of whom.[7]
  • c. 1175 – as a relative, introducing an additional statement.[7]
  • c. 1200 – introducing a defining clause.[7]
  • 1382 – of things.[7]

Modern meaning

Determiner

  1. Belonging to which person: whose book is this?
  2. Of whom or of which, introducing a relative clause: the man whose car was stolen or the play, whose style is formal.

Pronoun

  1. The one or ones belonging to which person.

Word family

  • whosesoever
  • whosever
  • who
  • whom
  • what
  • which
  • whoever

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary notes that it has been claimed whose should refer only to people, but that there is long literary precedent for using it as the possessive of which, and that the alternative of which can sound stilted.[9]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  4. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin