Etymograph

English

hoo

Hoo comes from Middle English hoo ‘she’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *hijō ‘this, this one’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hijō1‘this, this one’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hiju1reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150hēo2‘she’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hoo2‘she’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1854hoo2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Old English heo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English hoo
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1854, Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, North and South: “'Aye, aye,' said the father, impatiently, 'hoo'll come. Hoo's…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hijōWiktionary, Old English heo‘this, this one’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hijuWiktionary, Old English heoreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150hēoWiktionary, English hoo‘she’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hooWiktionary, English hoo‘she’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1854hooWiktionary, English hoo. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1854, Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, North and South: “'Aye, aye,' said the father, impatiently, 'hoo'll come. Hoo's…”

Linked words

through Old English hēo ‘she’

she, shoo

Another origin of hoo

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hoo
  2. Englishtodayhoo

Another origin of hoo

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150hū‘how’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500howe‘how’
  3. Englishtodayhoo

Another origin of hoo

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150hōh
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hough
  3. Englishtodayhoo

Today it means

pron she

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “hoo”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old English heo. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *hijō / hoo

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