In Standard Modern English, she has four shapes representing five distinct word forms:[1] Old English had a single third-person pronoun – from the Proto-Germanic demonstrative base *khi-, from PIE *ko- 'this'[3] – which had a plural and three genders in the singular.
In early Middle English, one case was lost, and distinct pronouns started to develop.
[4]: 118 By Middle English, it was found in the form schē[5] [ʃeː],[a] but how it arrived there is unclear.
[6] Others propose it descends directly from the third-person feminine pronoun: In Middle English, the Old English system collapses, due to the gradual loss of þe and the replacement of the paradigm se, seo, þæt by indeclinable that.
[4]: 296 A more likely account is what is sometimes called the 'Shetland Theory', since it assumes a development parallel to that of Shetland < OScand.
[citation needed] The -self forms developed in early Middle English, with hire self becoming herself.
She's referents are generally limited to individual, female persons, excluding the speaker and the addressee.
[1]: 487 Many English style guides discourage the use of she for countries or inanimate objects;[8][9] such use may be considered dated or sexist.