pronoun

CEFRB1

/ˈpɹəʊ.naʊn/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
noun
A word such as he, it, or they used instead of a noun.
02
noun
Extra detail
Ellipsis of preferred pronoun, any of the third-person pronouns by which a person prefers to be referred to, typically reflecting their gender identity; often communicated as a subject–object pair.

Examples

However, the preposition+relative pronoun (which) part becomes a relative adverb (where).
Relative pronouns perform as 'conjunction + pronoun'.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Also pronounced

Deep Dive

Extra meaning

A type of word that refers anaphorically to a noun or noun phrase, but which cannot ordinarily be preceded by a determiner and rarely takes an attributive adjective.

In context

The Portuguese pronoun "eu" came from Latin "ego".
My pronouns are she/her. What are your pronouns?
The possessive conjunctive pronoun is always repeated before a substantive, and after a conjunction; as my brothers and sisters, mes frères & mes sœurs; […]

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

The word in print, with each source given in full.

The possessive conjunctive pronoun is always repeated before a substantive, and after a conjunction; as my brothers and sisters, mes frères & mes sœurs; […]
1789, Jean Baptiste, A grammar of the French tongue, page 193
Dalia: Why are you playing the pronoun game? Alyssa: What? What are you talking about? I'm not even. Dalia: You are. "I met someone." "We have a great time. "They're from my home town." Doesn't this tube of wonderful have a name!
1997, Kevin Smith, Chasing Amy
As here the possessive pronoun 'our' has inclusive reference in that it a priori includes both the editor and reader, its presence amounts to a kind of pronominal bonding between writer and reader.
2013, Nicholas Brownless, “Spoken Discourse in Early English Newspapers”, in Joad Raymond, editor, News Networks in Seventeenth Century Britain and Europe, page 72
The vast majority (82 percent) of the nonbinary trans students I interviewed used nonbinary pronouns for themselves, and all said that they were rarely given the opportunity to indicate their pronouns.
2019, Genny Beemyn, editor, Trans People in Higher Education, SUNY Press, →ISBN, page 178
Then an earnest elaboration: “It’s just nice that other people understand what I’m thinking. I don’t have to explain a million things. I don’t have to be like, Okay, I guess I’ll let you ignore my pronouns. It’s a very good space.”
2023 August 31, Frankie de la Cretaz, “Postcard from Camp Gaylore”, in Cosmopolitan

Looking a word up is the easy part. LexUp remembers which words you have met and brings them back at the point you were about to forget them.

From pro- + noun, modeled on Middle French pronom, from Latin pronomen, itself a calque of Ancient Greek ᾰ̓ντωνῠμῐ́ᾱ (ăntōnŭmĭ́ā).