Who definition

ho͝o
What or which person or persons.

Who left?

pronoun
21
6
World Health Organization.
abbreviation
20
9
The person or persons that; whoever.

Who believes that will believe anything.

pronoun
15
5
Used as a relative pronoun to introduce a clause when the antecedent is a person or persons or one to whom personality is attributed.

The visitor who came yesterday; our child, who is gifted; informed sources who denied the story.

pronoun
8
3
What or which person or persons.

Who is he? I asked who he was; I don't know who he is.

pronoun
7
2
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Any person or persons that; whoever.

“who steals my purse steals trash”

pronoun
6
2
World Health Organization.
abbreviation
5
1
A person under discussion; a question of which person.
noun
5
1
WHO stands for the World Health Organization.

An example of WHO is the organization that is concerned with international public health matters.

abbreviation
4
1
anagrams
4
1
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(Note that who is usually used instead of whom, especially in informal contexts.)
pronoun
3
0
The World Health Organization.
acronym
3
1
The definition of who is a reference to a person or people.

An example of who is someone asking the identity of a person; who is that child?

pronoun
2
0
The person or persons that, or a person that: used to introduce a relative clause.

The man who came to dinner.

pronoun
4
3
(interrogative pronoun) What person or people; which person or people (used in a direct or indirect question).

Who is that? (direct question)

I don't know who it is. (indirect question)

pronoun
4
3
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(relative pronoun) The person or people that.

It was a nice man who helped us.

pronoun
2
1
World Health Organization.
abbreviation
3
4
as who should say
  • as if one should say
idiom
5
1

Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
who
Plural:
whos

Idioms and Phrasal Verbs

Origin of who

  • Middle English from Old English hwā kwo- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Old English hwā (dative hwām, genitive hwæs), from Proto-Germanic *hwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *kÊ·os, *kÊ·is. Compare West Frisian wa, Dutch wie, German wer.

    From Wiktionary

Who Sentence Examples

  • The boy who sat beside him was his son.

  • Who had handed it to her?

  • Are you going to tell me who he is?

  • After all, who knows?

  • I guess because the only one who should be looking at it is my husband.

More sentences

Also Mentioned In

Words near who in the Dictionary