Dictionary

hisn en · PRON

Etymology

From Middle English hisen, ultimately corresponding to an alteration of his after mine, thine.

Meanings

1. (Appalachia, UK, US, dialectal, especially) His.
   • I will not show him this letter of yours, though you seem to desire it, lest it should provoke him to be too severe a schoolmaster, when you are his'n. 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XXXII”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by John Osborn, […], →OCLC:
   • But in the absolute whosen is often substituted, as in "if it ain't hisn, then whosen is it?" The imitation is obvious. [1921 [1919], H. L. Mencken, The American Language, 2nd edition, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 297:
   • An' every feller felt ez though all Mexico wuz hisn. 1848, James Russell Lowell, The Biglow Papers:

Forms