English Meaning & Definitions
Used to refer to what person or people, or to specify a person or people previously mentioned.
- “Who is the person standing by the window?”
- “She is the artist who painted this mural.”
English Synonyms & Near Equivalents
Comprehensive Thesaurus Breakdown
Compare formal, informal, literary synonyms and register nuances for “who”.
Derived from the Old English 'hwā', originating from the Proto-Germanic '*hwaz', which traces back to the Proto-Indo-European interrogative root '*kʷo-'. It is a cognate with the Latin 'quis' and the Sanskrit 'kas', reflecting a shared ancient linguistic ancestry for interrogative pronouns.
Who is at the door? (W-H-O: Who Has Opened the door?)
Frequently Asked Questions About “who”
1. What is the meaning of “who” in English?
In English, who (pronoun) is defined as: “Used to refer to what person or people, or to specify a person or people previously mentioned.”.
2. How do you use “who” in a sentence?
“Who is the person standing by the window?”
3. What are English synonyms of “who”?
4. What is the etymology and word origin of “who”?
Derived from the Old English 'hwā', originating from the Proto-Germanic '*hwaz', which traces back to the Proto-Indo-European interrogative root '*kʷo-'. It is a cognate with the Latin 'quis' and the Sanskrit 'kas', reflecting a shared ancient linguistic ancestry for interrogative pronouns.
🇬🇧More English Words to English
View all English words →A measurement of time indicating an instantaneous occurrence or a state where no time has elapsed.
The base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), equal to the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom.
A specific duration of time equal to one hour and forty-six minutes and twelve seconds.
The cardinal number equal to one thousand million (1,000,000,000), expressed in scientific notation as 10^9.