pronoun

/ˌproʊˈnaʊn/

/ˈprʌʊnaʊn/

Other forms: pronouns

A pronoun is a word that's used in place of a noun or noun phrase, like “he,” “she,” or “it,” in place of “Dusty,” “Carol,” or “the lemur.”

The word pronoun originally comes from the Latin pronomen, which broken down means "for" or "in place of" and "name." The pronoun is a "stand-in" word for another noun, so you can use pronouns instead of repeating someone's name: "Charley went to the store and to Charley's office and then back to Charley's house" becomes "Charley went to the store and to his office and then back to his house."

Definitions of pronoun

1. noun

   a function word that is used in place of a noun or noun phrase
   types:

   anaphoric pronoun

   a pronoun that refers to an antecedent

   demonstrative, demonstrative pronoun

   a pronoun that points out an intended referent

   personal pronoun

   a pronoun expressing a distinction of person

   reciprocal pronoun

   a pronoun or pronominal phrase (as `each other') that expresses a mutual action or relationship between the individuals indicated in the plural subject

   relative pronoun

   a pronoun (as `that' or `which' or `who') that introduces a relative clause referring to some antecedent

   reflexive, reflexive pronoun

   a personal pronoun compounded with -self to show the agent's action affects the agent

   type of:

   closed-class word, function word

   a word that is uninflected and serves a grammatical function but has little identifiable meaning