somebody

somebody — pronoun

1. an unknown or unnamed person; a word used when the speaker does not know or does

1.pronounA1
Definition

an unknown or unnamed person; a word used when the speaker does not know or does not need to say who the person is

Example

Somebody left their bag in the classroom this morning.

somebody + possessive 'their' — unspecified owner

Can somebody help Hui carry these heavy boxes to the car?

question form: can somebody + infinitive

Common collocations
  • somebody else
  • somebody's + noun (somebody's phone, somebody's turn)
  • somebody + to-infinitive (somebody to talk to)
Synonyms
  • someone

    identical meaning; slightly more common in formal or written English

  • a person

    more general and literal; often used when the focus is on the individual rather than the unknown identity

Antonyms
  • nobody

    means 'no person at all' — the opposite of an unspecified somebody

  • no one

    equivalent to nobody; marks the absence of any person

Grammar Patterns

somebody + verb (singular)

somebody + else

somebody + relative clause

Usage Note

Somebody and someone have the same meaning and can be used in most of the same situations. Somebody is more common in everyday spoken English, while someone is slightly more frequent in formal writing. In negative sentences, use anybody instead: 'I did not see anybody there.'

Common Mistakes

Somebody is waiting for you — his name is Mr. Chen.
Someone is waiting for you
his name is Mr. Chen.' — Use 'someone' (not 'somebody') when the person's identity is known to you but not yet to the listener.
I did not see somebody on the street.
I did not see anybody on the street.
In negative sentences, English uses 'anybody'/'anyone', not 'somebody'/'someone'.

somebody — noun

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: pronoun/1

Somebody and someone are the closest synonyms — both refer to an unspecified person and are interchangeable in most sentences. The main difference is tone: somebody feels slightly more natural in casual conversation ('Can somebody help me?'), while someone appears more often in edited writing ('Someone called while you were out'). Anybody is broader: it refers to any person at all, with no implication that a particular person exists. 'Does anybody know the answer?' asks if there is at least one person who knows, while 'Does somebody know the answer?' implies the speaker assumes there is. One is a formal alternative used in British English and academic prose ('One might ask whether…'). In everyday US and Taiwan-learner contexts, someone and somebody are the safe choices; use anybody in questions and negatives; and reserve one for formal registers.

someone ↗anybody ↗one

Common collocations

Nouns

  • somebody else
  • somebody's turn
  • somebody's fault

Phrases

  • or somebody (like that)
  • somebody somewhere

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

Somebody comes from the Middle English phrase 'som body', literally meaning 'some body' — a body was a common way to refer to a person. The two words were first written separately (around 1300), then linked with a hyphen, and eventually fused into a single word by the 1500s. The noun sense meaning 'an important person' developed in the late 1500s, growing out of the idea that a 'somebody' is a person who stands out from the crowd.