either

Etymology

From Middle English either, from Old English ǣġhwæþer, from Proto-Germanic, ultimately corresponding to ay (“always, ever”) + whether. Akin to Old Saxon eogihwethar, iahwethar (Low German jeed); Old Dutch *iogewether, *iowether, *iother (Dutch ieder); Old High German eogihwedar, iegihweder, ieweder (German jeder).

Pronunciation

• enPR: īth′ə(r), ēth′ə(r), IPA^(key): /ˈaɪð.ə(ɹ)/, /ˈiːð.ə(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -aɪðə(ɹ), -iːðə(ɹ)

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

    ,

    Audio (US)

    (file)

• In the UK, /aɪ/ is used more in Southern England, and /iː/ is more usual in Northern England. In North America, /iː/ is the most common, but /aɪ/ is predominant in some regions. Note that even if one pronunciation is more common in a region, the pronunciation used varies by individual speaker and sometimes by situation.

Determiner

either

1. Each of two. [from 9th c.]
   • John Milton (1608-1674)

     His flowing hair / In curls on either cheek played.

   • 1936, Djuna Barnes, Nightwood, Faber & Faber 2007, page 31:

     Her hands, long and beautiful, lay on either side of her face.

2. One or the other of two. [from 14th c.]
   • 2006 December 5,, “Mason drops lawsuit vs. Jews for Jesus”, in USA Today:

     You can't be a table and a chair. You're either a Jew or a gentile.

3. (coordinating) Used before two or more not necessarily exclusive possibilities separated by "or" or sometimes by a comma.

   You'll either be early, late, or on time.

   • 1893, Walter Besant, “Prologue”, in The Ivory Gate:

     Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language […] his clerks […] understood him very well. If he had written a love letter, or a farce, or a ballade, or a story, no one, either clerks, or friends, or compositors, would have understood anything but a word here and a word there.

Pronoun

either

1. (obsolete) Both, each of two or more.
   • 1485 July 31, Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [Le Morte Darthur], (please specify the book number), [London: William Caxton], OCLC 71490786; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur, London: Published by David Nutt, in the Strand, 1889, OCLC 890162034:
     , Bk.VII:

     Than ayther departed to theire tentis and made hem redy to horsebacke as they thought beste.

   • Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

     Scarce a palm of ground could be gotten by either of the three.

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, book III, canto I:

     And either vowd with all their power and wit, / To let not others honour be defaste […]

   • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894)

     There have been three talkers in Great British, either of whom would illustrate what I say about dogmatists.

2. One or other of two people or things.
   • 2013, Daniel Taylor, Danny Welbeck leads England's rout of Moldova but hit by Ukraine ban, The Guardian, 6 September:

     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.

Adverb

either (not comparable)

1. (conjunctive, after a negative) As well.

   I don't like him and I don't like her either.

   • 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:

     But Richmond […] appeared to lose himself in his own reflections. Some pickled crab, which he had not touched, had been removed with a damson pie; and his sister saw […] that he had eaten no more than a spoonful of that either.

Conjunction

either

1. Introduces the first of two options, the second of which is introduced by "or".

   Either you eat your dinner or you go to your room.

See also

• neither
• nor
• or

Anagrams

• Ethier, theire

Alternative forms

• æȝþer, ethir, eiþer

Etymology

From Old English ǣġþer, a contraction of ǣġhwæþer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛiðər/

Determiner

either

1. Both of two.
2. Each of two.
3. Either of two.

Pronoun

either

1. Both of two members of a group.
2. Each of two members of a group.
3. Either of two members of a group.

Adjective

either

1. Both, all, or any of a set.
2. Each of a group.

References

• “either (pron.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-02-20.