pronoun

• pronoune (obsolete)

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

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹəʊnaʊn/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹoʊ.naʊn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (Indic) IPA^(key): /ˈproːnawn/, /proˈnawn/
• Rhymes: -əʊnaʊn, -oʊnaʊn

pronoun (plural pronouns)

2. (grammar) 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.
   • 1789, Jean Baptiste, A grammar of the French tongue, page 193:

     The possessive conjunctive pronoun is always repeated before a substantive, and after a conjunction; as my brothers and sisters, mes frères & mes sœurs; […]

   • 1997, Kevin Smith, Chasing Amy:

     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!

   • 2013, Nicholas Brownless, “Spoken Discourse in Early English Newspapers”, in Joad Raymond, editor, News Networks in Seventeenth Century Britain and Europe, page 72:

     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.

3. (chiefly in the plural, specifically) 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.

   My pronouns are she/her. What are your pronouns?

   • 2019, Genny Beemyn, editor, Trans People in Higher Education, SUNY Press, →ISBN, page 178:

     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.

   • 2023 August 31, Frankie de la Cretaz, “Postcard from Camp Gaylore”, in Cosmopolitan‎^[1]:

     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, Miriam Grossman, Lost in Trans Nation:

     You can refuse to use pronouns and alternate names and still show love to your child. Be clear and succinct.

   • 2025 March 6, Erum Salam, quoting Greg Abbott, “Elon Musk and Texas governor celebrate firing of worker over pronouns in email signature”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     Abbott celebrated the move on X, sharing a report from the Austin American-Statesman on the firing and writing: “A Texas state employee refused to remove pronouns from email signature. He was fired before noon.”

• part of speech
• pro-form

• pronominal

• → Pohnpeian: pronaun

• Thesaurus:pronoun