whom
//hʉwm//
Definitions
1.What person or people; which person or people.(formal)
- He read the letter aloud. Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement.
- To whom are you referring?
- With whom were you talking?
2.Used to refer to a previously mentioned person or people.(formal)
- There is a new girl in the class whom I consider to be a wunderkind.
- She felt miserable unless she had neighbors with whom to quarrel regularly.
- A woman shooting pool whom you know has red hair even though the photograph is black and white.
3.Also used with names of collective nouns that are groups of people, especially singularly-named musical groups or sports teams.(formal)
- Whom was Lemmy bassist for? Motörhead!
4.The person(s) whom; whomever.(formal)
- To whom it may concern, all business of John Smith Ltd. has now been transferred to Floggitt & Runne.
Frequency
Overall
Common· #1161
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Common
- Academic
- Uncommon
- Literature
- Rare
Etymology
From Middle English whom, wham, from Old English hwām, hwǣm, from Proto-Germanic *hwammai, dative case of *hwaz (“who, what”).
Cognate with Scots wham (“whom”), German wem (“whom, to whom”), Danish hvem (“who, whom”), Swedish vem (“who, whom”).