English Online Dictionary. What means whose? What does whose mean?
English
Etymology
From Middle English whos, from Old English hwæs, from Proto-Germanic *hwes, genitive case of *hwaz (“who”) *hwat (“what”).
Pronunciation
- (UK, US) IPA(key): /huːz/
- Rhymes: -uːz
- Homophones: who's, whos
Determiner
whose
- (interrogative) Of whom, belonging to whom; which person's or people's.
- (relative) Of whom, belonging to whom.
- (= This man's dog caused the accident.)
- Venus, whose sister Serena is, won the latest championship.
- Pat and Lou, whose house we visited last year
- (relative) Of which, belonging to which.
- (= The rooves were falling off several houses that we saw.)
Derived terms
Translations
Pronoun
whose
- (interrogative) That or those of whom or belonging to whom.
- (relative) That or those of whom or belonging to whom.
- This car is blocking the way, but Mr Smith, whose it is, will be here shortly.
- 1833, Tait's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 3, page 637 (Google Books view):
- If he starts it on another man's lands, and kills it there, it belongs to the owner of the land; but if he start game on one man's lands, and pursue it to those of another, and kill it there, it is neither the property of the man on whose lands it is started, nor of him on whose it is killed, but belongs to the killer.
- 1895, Library Journal, Volume 20, page 397 (Google Books view):
- The notes on authors are extremely brilliant and incisive, not always in good perspective and sometimes freaky in their wit, as, for instance, the reference to Mrs. Holmes, of whose books it is said, "The secret of their long popularity has never been divulged by their readers," and Mrs. Harris, of whose it is said, "To a lively mind they should be conducive of profound sleep," which, whatever its faults, is by no means true of "Rutledge."
Translations
Contraction
whose
- Misspelling of who's.
Anagrams
- Howes, Howse, howes, showe, whoes
Middle English
Pronoun
whose
- (chiefly Late Middle English) Alternative form of whos (“whose”, genitive)