s/he

[shee-er-hee, shee-hee]

pronoun

she or he: used as an orthographic device to avoid he when the sex of the antecedent is unknown or irrelevant.

Compare she/he.

Usage note

See he¹.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Word Origin and History for s/he

pron.

artificial genderless pronoun, attested from 1977; from he + she.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper