pronoun

[ proh-noun ]
/ ˈproʊˌnaʊn /

noun Grammar.

any member of a small class of words found in many languages that are used as replacements or substitutes for nouns and noun phrases, and that have very general reference, as I, you, he, this, who, what. Pronouns are sometimes formally distinguished from nouns, as in English by the existence of special objective forms, as him for he or me for I, and by nonoccurrence with an article or adjective.

Origin of pronoun

1520–30; < Middle French pronom < Latin prōnōmen (stem prōnōmin-). See pro-1, noun

Example sentences from the Web for pronoun

British Dictionary definitions for pronoun

pronoun
/ (ˈprəʊˌnaʊn) /

noun

one of a class of words that serves to replace a noun phrase that has already been or is about to be mentioned in the sentence or context Abbreviation: pron

Word Origin for pronoun

C16: from Latin prōnōmen, from pro- 1 + nōmen noun

Cultural definitions for pronoun

pronoun

A word that takes the place of a noun. She, herself, it, and this are examples of pronouns. If we substituted pronouns for the nouns in the sentence “Please give the present to Karen,” it would read “Please give it to her.”