either
/ˈaɪ.ðɚ/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: 5.33 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
det
Any one (of two).
det
Each of two; both.
det
Any one (of more than two).
pron
Both, each of two or more.
Obsolete
adv
conj
Introduces the first of two (or occasionally more) options or possibilities, the second (or last) of which is introduced by “or”.
Example Sentences
- "You can have it in either colour."
- "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."
- "His flowing hair In curls on either cheek played."
- "Her hands, long and beautiful, lay on either side of her face."
- "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.”"
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *h₂ey-, either, ǣġhwæþer, *aiw
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈaɪ.ðɚ/
- British English: /ˈaɪ.ðə/