either
pronoun
- the one or the other
adverb
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L333581 on Wikidata ↗conjunction
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L333939 on Wikidata ↗- one of two choices
- one or the other of a pair
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈaɪ.ðə/ / /ˈiː.ðə/ / /ˈɑjðə/
adv
Etymology: From Middle English either, from Old English ǣġhwæþer, from Proto-West Germanic *aiw + *gahwaþar. Akin to Old Saxon eogihwethar, iahwethar (Low German jeed); Old Dutch *iogewether, *iowether, *iother (Dutch ieder); Old High German eogihwedar, iegihweder, ieweder (German jeder). The pronunciations with /iː/ and /eɪ/ respectively reflect Middle English forms in /ɛː/ and /æi/; the origin of that with /aɪ/ is less clear, but it may reflect a Middle English form with /iː/; see Middle English either for more discussion.
- As well.
“I don't like him, and I don't like her either.”
“I know a cheap Spanish restaurant. It's not far from here, either.”
conj
Etymology: From Middle English either, from Old English ǣġhwæþer, from Proto-West Germanic *aiw + *gahwaþar. Akin to Old Saxon eogihwethar, iahwethar (Low German jeed); Old Dutch *iogewether, *iowether, *iother (Dutch ieder); Old High German eogihwedar, iegihweder, ieweder (German jeder). The pronunciations with /iː/ and /eɪ/ respectively reflect Middle English forms in /ɛː/ and /æi/; the origin of that with /aɪ/ is less clear, but it may reflect a Middle English form with /iː/; see Middle English either for more discussion.
- Introduces the first of two (or occasionally more) options or possibilities, the second (or last) of which is introduced by “or”.
“Either you eat your dinner or you go to your room.”
“You can have either potatoes or rice with that, but not both.”
det
Etymology: From Middle English either, from Old English ǣġhwæþer, from Proto-West Germanic *aiw + *gahwaþar. Akin to Old Saxon eogihwethar, iahwethar (Low German jeed); Old Dutch *iogewether, *iowether, *iother (Dutch ieder); Old High German eogihwedar, iegihweder, ieweder (German jeder). The pronunciations with /iː/ and /eɪ/ respectively reflect Middle English forms in /ɛː/ and /æi/; the origin of that with /aɪ/ is less clear, but it may reflect a Middle English form with /iː/; see Middle English either for more discussion.
- Any one (of two).
“You can have it in either colour.”
- Each of two; both.
“There is a locomotive at either end of the train, one pulling and the other pushing.”
“There are roses on either side of the garden.”
- Any one (of more than two).
“I hope you will be ready to own publicly, whenever you shall be called to it, that by your great and frequent urgency you prevailed on me to publish a very loose and uncorrect account of my travels, with directions to hire some young gentleman of either university to put them in order, and correct the style, as my cousin Dampier did, by my advice, in his book called “A Voyage round the world.””
“They entreat, they pray, they beg, they supplicate (will either of these do, Miss Clary?) that you will make no scruple to go to your uncle Antony's […].”
pron
Etymology: From Middle English either, from Old English ǣġhwæþer, from Proto-West Germanic *aiw + *gahwaþar. Akin to Old Saxon eogihwethar, iahwethar (Low German jeed); Old Dutch *iogewether, *iowether, *iother (Dutch ieder); Old High German eogihwedar, iegihweder, ieweder (German jeder). The pronunciations with /iː/ and /eɪ/ respectively reflect Middle English forms in /ɛː/ and /æi/; the origin of that with /aɪ/ is less clear, but it may reflect a Middle English form with /iː/; see Middle English either for more discussion.
- One or the other of two people or things.
“He made me two offers, but I did not accept either.”
“Hodgson may now have to bring in James Milner on the left and, on that basis, a certain amount of gloss was taken off a night on which Welbeck scored twice but barely celebrated either before leaving the pitch angrily complaining to the Slovakian referee.”
- Both, each of two or more.
“Scarce a palm of ground could be gotten by either of the three.”
“And either vowd with all their power and wit, / To let not others honour be defaste […]”