who
pronoun
what person or persons?.
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who
1 American
[hoo]
/ hu /
pronoun
-
whom,
objective
-
whose
possessive
-
what person or persons?.
Who did it?
-
(of a person) of what character, origin, position, importance, etc..
Who does she think she is?
-
the person that or any person that (used relatively to represent a specified or implied antecedent).
It was who you thought.
-
(used relatively in restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses to represent a specified antecedent, the antecedent being a person or sometimes an animal or personified thing).
Any kid who wants to can learn to swim.
-
Archaic. the person or persons who.
idioms
WHO
2
American
[duhb-uhl-yoo-aych-oh]
/ ˈdʌb əlˌjuˈeɪtʃˈoʊ /
abbreviation
who
1
British
/ huː /
pronoun
-
which person? what person? used in direct and indirect questions
he can't remember who did it
who met you?
-
used to introduce relative clauses with antecedents referring to human beings
the people who lived here have left
-
the one or ones who; whoever
bring who you want
WHO
2
British
abbreviation
Usage
What is WHO? The World Health Organization, commonly abbreviated as WHO, is an agency of the United Nations that works to promote public health around the world. One of its principal focuses is combating communicable diseases, such as influenza, HIV, and malaria. In 2020, the World Health Organization notably helped coordinate international efforts to control and prevent the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the World Health Organization was founded on April 7, 1948, when its constitution came into force. WHO inherited the activities of its precursors, the International Office of Public Health, founded in 1907, and the League of Nations Health Organization (LNHO), which was dissolved in 1946. As stated in its constitution, the World Health Organization defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” The organization is guided by the principles that health is a fundamental human right and that every person should enjoy the highest standard of health. The World Health Organization helped lead one of the greatest public health achievements in history: the eradication of smallpox, a highly contagious disease that has ravaged humanity since antiquity. But in 1979, WHO declared smallpox officially eradicated—that is, eliminated as a naturally occurring disease—as the result of vaccination programs. The World Health Organization was also a major player in the near eradication of polio, a viral disease that can cause debilitating muscle weakness. WHO has helped spearhead efforts against many other communicable diseases, including Ebola, HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis. While best known for its work in fighting communicable diseases, the World Health Organization pursues a broad array of programs and projects across the globe addressing:
- noncommunicable diseases, such as cancer and diabetes
- health-related issues across people’s lifetimes
- tobacco and drug use
- environmental health issues, including clean air and water
- food safety and security
- road safety
- emergency response
- healthcare policies, including seeking universal healthcare coverage
Commonly Confused
The typical usage guide statement about the choice between who and whom says that the choice must be determined by the grammar of the clause within which this pronoun occurs. Who is the appropriate form for the subject of a sentence or clause: Who are you? The voters who elected him have not been disappointed. Whom is the objective form: Whom did you ask? To whom are we obliged for this assistance? This method of selecting the appropriate form is generally characteristic of formal writing and is usually followed in edited prose. In most speech and writing, however, since who or whom often occurs at the beginning of the sentence or clause, there is a strong tendency to choose who no matter what its function. Even in edited prose, who occurs at least ten times as often as whom, regardless of grammatical function. Only when it directly follows a preposition is whom more likely to occur than who: Mr. Erickson is the man to whom you should address your request. In natural informal speech, whom is quite rare. Who were you speaking to? is far more likely to occur than the “correct” To whom were you speaking? or Whom were you speaking to? However, the notion that whom is somehow more “correct” or elegant than who leads some speakers to make an inappropriate hypercorrection: Whom are you? The person whom is in charge has left the office. See also than .
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of who
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English hwā; cognate with Old High German hwer, Gothic hwas; akin to Greek tís, Irish cé, Latin quis, Latvian kas, Russian kto, Sanskrit ka
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Amelia Lerutte, the chief AI officer at SaaStr who was once its VP of marketing, told you she spends much of her time talking with 10k or reviewing its teams’ work.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
In a Belgian case series involving 100 people who received phage treatment, 77 percent experienced an improvement in their clinical condition.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 5, 2026
Louis Sharpe, frontman of the Latin freestyle group TKA, who will further bring the artists’ perspectives into the narrative.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
What was designed to ostensibly be a great equalizer has only divided the world more, making animosity easily accessible to anyone who gets their rocks off on sewing discourse through cruelty.
From Salon ● Nov. 5, 2026
Panicked, Joey contacts Father Monaghan, who immediately rushes to help her.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
The WHO is working with the government to bring forward the birth-dose vaccine.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026
The WHO said the patient, the wife of an employee of the Swiss embassy in the capital Abuja, developed symptoms on October 7.
From Barron's ● Oct. 27, 2026
The patient in Nigeria arrived in the capital Abuja on October 3 after being in Uganda since September 16, the WHO representative in Nigeria Pavel Ursu said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 22, 2026
The WHO had declared Uganda Ebola-free after authorities there reported no new cases.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026
WHO, whose influence and reputation carried a lot of weight in poor countries, had gone so far as declaring Peru’s TB program the best in the developing world.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
That’s a red flag, if he has two children with whom he has a good relationship, and if no previous will had indicated preferential treatment.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 5, 2026
“These are people who live in their own world, whom you can’t approach,” said Pascal Godrie, mayor of Val d’Issoire, a collection of towns in central France that includes Bussiere-Boffy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
He backed a bevy of insurgent primary bids by DSA-aligned candidates like New York’s Darializa Avila Chevalier and Colorado’s Melat Kiros—both of whom would go on to win.
From Slate ● Nov. 4, 2026
Teixeira was the fifth overall pick in the 2001 MLB draft by the Texas Rangers, for whom he played until 2007.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026
“It means that I, Miss Penelope Lumley, am the singular person whom the author of this volume hopes to lure to that obscure and little-trafficked Gallery Seventeen.”
From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood
By turning molten glass into a material whose chemistry can be deliberately adjusted, the discovery offers a new route toward specialized glasses with properties that conventional manufacturing techniques could not easily produce.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 5, 2026
That latter bit is certainly true for filmmaker Taika Waititi, whose otherwise tacky-yet-progressive veneer cracked last weekend when he took to Instagram to condemn the poor reviews of his latest film, “Klara and the Sun.”
From Salon ● Nov. 5, 2026
So says, Wall Street veteran Jared Dillian whose latest book — “The Awesome Portfolio: A Simple, Stress-Free Approach to Investing” — carries the not-so-popular message that investors need diversification.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 5, 2026
The hackers, whose identities and motives remain unknown, gained control of internet-connected computers that supermarket chains and refrigeration companies use to monitor their systems, cybersecurity researchers said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
A boy who lacked discipline, whose family was relieved when he was called to France, hoping that maybe the rigors of the army would smooth out his jagged edges, help him grow up.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
