A word used to refer to a female person or animal that has already been mentioned or is known. It is used as the subject of a sentence.
From Middle English 'sche', which developed from Old English feminine demonstratives like 'seo' or 'sio' meaning 'that (female)'. Over time, this form took over as the main feminine pronoun.
The word 'she' is surprisingly young compared to 'he' and 'it'—English originally used different forms before this one won out. Pronouns like 'she' carry huge social weight today, but they began as little pointing words meaning 'that woman over there'.
'She' has long functioned as a third-person feminine pronoun, but English and other languages have also used 'he' as a so-called generic, erasing women and nonbinary people. In some technical and nautical traditions, ships and even objects were called 'she', reflecting gendered personification.
Use 'she' for individuals who use this pronoun, and avoid defaulting to 'he' or 'she' generically; use 'they' or explicit plural forms when gender is unknown or mixed.
["they"]
When citing historical figures, use 'she' accurately for women whose contributions were minimized or misattributed to men, and include their full names and roles.
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