whos
See also: who's
English edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
whos
- plural of who; often used along with whats, whys, hows, etc.
- Closing of Duffy trial takes proceedings from the whos and whats to why and how.
- The whos and wheres and whens and whats of his expenses were the meat of the weeks of testimony that dragged on far longer than anyone expected
Anagrams edit
Middle English edit
Alternative forms edit
- hoes, hos, hose, hosse, hoys, huas, qwoys, was, whas, whoes, whois, whoos, whose, wos, wose
- (northern) quas, whase, whayse
- (early) hwas, hwæs, hwes, hwos
Etymology edit
From Old English hwæs, hwes (genitive of hwā), from Proto-West Germanic *hwes (genitive of *hwaʀ), from Proto-Germanic *hwes (dative of *hwaz), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷésyo (genitive of *kʷís).
The usual vocalism is due to influence from who and whom; forms with the expected vocalism are found sporadically in Early Middle English.
Pronunciation edit
Pronoun edit
whos (singular or plural, genitive case, nominative who)
Descendants edit
Determiner edit
whos
Descendants edit
References edit
- “whōs, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.