sheとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源

Inherited from 中期英語 sche, scho, hyo, ȝho (“she”), whence also Yorkshire dialectal shoo (“she”), Scots she, sho (“she”).

Probably from 古期英語 hēo (whence dialectal English hoo), with an irregular change in stress from hēo to heō /hjoː/, then a development from /hj-/ to /ç/ to /ʃ-/, similar to the derivation of Shetland from Old Norse Hjaltland. In this case, she is from Proto-West Germanic *hiju, from Proto-Germanic *hijō f (“this, this one”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-, *ḱey- (“this, here”), and is cognate with Saterland Frisian jo, ju, West Frisian hja, North Frisian jü, Danish hun, Swedish hon; more at he.

A derivation from 古期英語 sēo (“that one”, occasionally “she”) is also possible, though less likely. In that case, sēo would have undergone a change in stress from sēo to seō /sjoː/, then a change from /sj-/ to /ʃ-/, similar to the derivation of sure from Old French seur. It would then be cognate to Dutch zij and German sie.

Neither etymology would be expected to yield the modern vocalism in /iː/ (the expected form would be shoo, which is in fact found dialectally). It may be due to influence from he, but both hēo and sēo also have rare variants (hīe and sīe) that may give modern English /iː/.

発音

• (英国発音) IPA: /ʃiː/
• (米国発音, Canada) IPA: /ʃi/
• (Northumbria, unstressed) IPA: /ʃə/
• (Australia) IPA: /ʃiː/, [ʃɪi], [ʃɪ̈i]
• 異形同音異義語: sidhe, Xi, shee
• 韻: -iː

代名詞

she (third-person singular, feminine, nominative case, oblique and possessive her, possessive hers, reflexive herself)

1. (personal) The female (typically) person or animal previously mentioned or implied.

   I asked Mary, but she said that she didn't know.

   After the cat killed a mouse, she left it on our doorstep.

   She seems a clever girl, your Isabel.

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Goodly she entertaind those noble knights, / And brought them vp into her castle hall […]

   • 1917, Anton Chekhov, translated by Constance Garnett, The Darling and Other Stories‎, Project Gutenberg, published 9 September 2004, →ISBN, page 71:

     The mother, Ekaterina Pavlovna, who at one time had been handsome, but now, asthmatic, depressed, vague, and over-feeble for her years, tried to entertain me with conversation about painting. Having heard from her daughter that I might come to Shelkovka, she had hurriedly recalled two or three of my landscapes which she had seen in exhibitions in Moscow, and now asked what I meant to express by them.

   • 2024 June 25, Issy Ronald, “Kevin, world’s tallest male dog, dies shortly after securing record”, in CNN‎:

     His family, who live in West Des Moines, Iowa, have been left “devastated,” his owner Tracy Wolfe said in GWR press release. “He was just the best giant boy,” she added.

   • 2024 December 31, Brooke Kato, “What is ‘microretirement’? Gen Z and millennials spawn new career trend to help with woes”, in New York Post‎:

     Morgan Sanner, a 27-year-old human resources worker in Ohio, told New York magazine’s The Cut that she felt inspired to follow in the footsteps of other people — who she noticed were “taking significant breaks” from their careers — after going abroad for the first time.

2. (personal, sometimes endearing) A ship or boat.

   She could do forty knots in good weather.

   She is a beautiful boat, isn’t she?

   The tanker is 25 years old but she is still very seaworthy.

   • 1960 April, O. S. Nock, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 271 ("she" refers to a locomotive):

     On the long 1 in 100 ascent from Staveley to Heath she nearly stalled, and having taken 67¼ min. to cover the 38.2 miles to Nottingham instead of the 51 min. scheduled she gave up the ghost, and came off the train.

3. (personal, dated, sometimes endearing) A country, or sometimes a city, province, planet, etc.

   She is a poor place, but has beautiful scenery and friendly people.

4. (personal, endearing or poetic, chiefly dated) A thing, especially a machine or other object, such as a car, a computer, or (poetically) a season.

   She only gets thirty miles to the gallon on the highway, but she’s durable.

   • 1928, The Journal of the American Dental Association, page 765:

     Prodigal in everything, summer spreads her blessings with lavish unconcern, and waving her magic wand across the landscape of the world, she bids the sons of men to enter in and possess. Summer is the great consummation.

   • 1977, “57 Chevy”, in Kansas City Slickers, performed by The Leopards:

     She is my 57 Chevy / My 57 Chevy runs so fine / No one can beat my 57 Chevy

   • 2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:

     The car’s engine revved up, and the back wheels screeched. Then she lurched forward at terrific speed.

5. (personal, nonstandard) A person whose gender is unknown or irrelevant (used in a work, along with or in place of he, as an indefinite pronoun).

   Synonym: they

   • 1990, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience:

     Optimal experience is thus something that we make happen. For a child, it could be placing with trembling fingers the last block on a tower she has built, higher than any she has built so far; for a swimmer, it could be trying to beat his own record; for a violinist, mastering an intricate musical passage.

6. (personal, Roman Catholicism) The Catholic Church.
   • 2026, Pope Leo XIV, chapter 1, in Magnifica humanitas‎:

     The Church is present in the world as a sign of unity for the entire human family. She recognizes today’s questions and challenges as the current setting in which to carry out her particular vocation of listening, dialogue and service, and of being responsive to everything concerning the lives of contemporary men and women.

使用する際の注意点

• Since at least the 1920s and 30s, some gay or queer men refer to other gay or queer men and/or themselves with she/her pronouns, as well as with other feminine terms such as Miss and girl, to signal their sexuality rather than their gender identity; this has sometimes been termed "the gay she":

別の表記

• shoo, hoo (Northern England dialect)
• shee (obsolete)

派生語

関連する語

• she-

参考

名詞

she (plural shes)

1. A female.

   Pat is definitely a she.

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:

     Come, come, we know very well what all the matter is; but if one won’t, another will; so pretty a gentleman need never want a lady. I am sure, if I was you, I would see the finest she that ever wore a head hanged, before I would go for a soldier for her.

   • 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 130”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:

     And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare / As any she belied with false compare.

   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

     he came home to find […] honest Swartz in her favourite amber-coloured satin, with turquoise bracelets, countless rings, flowers, feathers, and all sorts of tags and gimcracks, about as elegantly decorated as a she chimney-sweep on May-day.

   • 1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 199:

     “They were all hairy-faced bulls but one,” he said, “and that one was a she, lighter in color even than this stranger,” and he chucked a thumb at Tarzan.

   • 1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 12:

     “Then,” I said, much amused, “you think that if you were mixed up in a crime, say a murder, you’d be able to spot the murderer right off?” “Of course I should. Mightn’t be able to prove it to a pack of lawyers. But I’m certain I’d know. I’d feel it in my fingertips if he came near me.” “It might be a ‘she’,” I suggested.

   • 1972, Lou Reed, “Walk on the Wild Side”, in Transformer:

     Plucked her eyebrows on the way / Shaved her legs and then he was a she

   • 2000, Sue V. Rosser, Building inclusive science volume 28, issues 1–2, page 189:

     A world where the hes are so much more common than the shes can hardly be seen as a welcoming place for women.

動詞

she

1. (transitive) To refer to (someone) using she/her pronouns.
   • 2019 April 16, Natalia Deeb-Sossa, Community-Based Participatory Research: Testimonios from Chicana/o Studies, University of Arizona Press, →ISBN, page 193:

     If somebody wants to go by “he,” continually “sheing” them [is invalidating].

   • 2023 December 7, Laura L. Paterson, The Routledge Handbook of Pronouns, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN:

     In his conversation with the woman, Ari would 'he' himself using the masculine pronoun and she would reply by consistently 'sheing' him. Such examples share something about the emotional quality of language […]

限定詞

she

1. (African-American Vernacular) Synonym of her.

参考

参照

アナグラム

• EH&S, EHS, Esh, HSE, ehs, esh, he's, hes, hse

代名詞

(s)he

1. He or she; singular of they, used as a gender-neutral form of the third person singular.

アナグラム

• EH&S, EHS, Esh, HSE, ehs, esh, he's, hes, hse

発音

• IPA: /hi ɔː(ɹ) ʃi/

代名詞

s/he (third person singular, plural they)

1. he or she
   • 2020 March 14, Martin Belam, “Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV leader Genesis Breyer P-Orridge dies aged 70”, in The Guardian‎:

     Born as Neil Andrew Megson in Manchester, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge grew up in Essex. S/he was a member of radical art collective COUM Transmissions in the late 1960s, and went on to form Throbbing Gristle with Cosey Fanni Tutti, Peter Christopherson and Chris Carter.

使用する際の注意点

This term is used as a gender-neutral third person singular pronoun. One common use is on paper forms.

同意語

• (sometimes proscribed; grammatically plural but semantically singular) they
• (sometimes proscribed) he
• (arbitrarily) she

参考

• wo/man

アナグラム

• EH&S, EHS, Esh, HSE, ehs, esh, he's, hes, hse

使用する際の注意点

While the term had already started to be associated with academia, fantasy, or mythology by the early 20th century, it was not dated in colloquial speech until the late 20th century. Its usage in standard everyday speech in the modern era is now limited to applications where the sex of the referent is paramount to the discussion.

同意語

• (female suffix): -a, -ess, -ette, -ine, -ress, -trix

反意語

• (antonym(s) of “female prefix”): he-

等位語

• he-

派生語

関連する語

アナグラム

• EH&S, EHS, Esh, HSE, ehs, esh, he's, hes, hse