Meanings
- Any one (of two).
You can have it in either colour.
- Each of two; both.First known use 9th c.
There are roses on either side of the garden.
3 more examples
There is a locomotive at either end of the train, one pulling and the other pushing.
His flowing hair In curls on either cheek played.
1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLCHer hands, long and beautiful, lay on either side of her face.
1936, Djuna Barnes, Nightwood, Faber & Faber, published 2007, page 31 - oftenproscribedAny one (of more than two).
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 […].
1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter LI”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by John Osborn, […], →OCLC1 more example
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.”
Jonathan Swift (1726), Gulliver's Travels, 1st edition
- One or the other of two people or things.
He made me two offers, but I did not accept either.
1 more example
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.
2013 September 7, Daniel Taylor, “Danny Welbeck leads England's rout of Moldova but hit by Ukraine ban”, in The Guardian - obsoleteBoth, each of two or more.
Scarce a palm of ground could be gotten by either of the three.
a. 1627 (date written), Francis [Bacon], “Considerations Touching a Warre with Spaine. […]”, in William Rawley, editor, Certaine Miscellany Works of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount S. Alban. […], London: […] I. Hauiland for Humphrey Robinson, […], published 1629, →OCLC2 more examples
And either vowd with all their power and wit, / To let not others honour be defaste […]
1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLCThere have been three famous talkers in Great British, either of whom would illustrate what I say about dogmatists.
1872, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., The Poet at the Breakfast-Table
- conjunctivenot comparableAs well.
I don't like him, and I don't like her either.
2 more examples
I know a cheap Spanish restaurant. It's not far from here, either.
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.
1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax
- Introduces the first of two (or occasionally more) options or possibilities, the second (or last) of which is introduced by "or".
You'll be either early, late, or on time.
5 more examples
Either you eat your dinner or you go to your room.
You can have either potatoes or rice with that, but not both.
Either you'll finish your homework or you'll be grounded.
You can't be a table and a chair. You're either a Jew or a gentile.
2006 December 5, Jackie Mason, quotee, “Mason drops lawsuit vs. Jews for Jesus”, in USA TodayThus, 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.
1893, Walter Besant, “Prologue”, in The Ivory GateSynonyms: whether
Synonyms & antonyms
conjunctionIntroduces the first of two (or occasionally more) options or possibilities, the second (or last) of which is introduced by "or".
Origin
- Proto-West Germanic*aiw
- Old Englishǣġhwæþer
- Middle Englisheither
- Englisheither
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.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ἤτοι ... ἤ, εἴτε ... εἴτε
- ἤτοι ... ἤ (ḗtoi ... ḗ)introduces the first of two options
- εἴτε ... εἴτε (eíte ... eíte)introduces the first of two options
Arabic أَيْضًا, كَذٰلِكَ
- أَيْضًا (ʔayḍan)(after a negative) as well
- كَذٰلِكَ (ka-ḏālika)(after a negative) as well
- إِمَّا ... إِمَّا (ʔimmā ... ʔimmā)introduces the first of two options
Bulgarian всеки, също
- всеки (vseki)each of two
- също (săšto)(after a negative) as well
- или ... или (ili ... ili)introduces the first of two options
- нито ... нито (nito ... nito)introduces the first of two options
Catalan tampoc
- tampoc(after a negative) as well
Chinese Cantonese 一係……一係…… /一系……一系……
- 一係……一係…… /一系……一系…… (jat¹ hai⁶ ... jat¹ hai⁶ ...)introduces the first of two options
Chinese Mandarin 也不, 或者……或者……
- 也不 (yěbù)(after a negative) as well
- 或者……或者…… (huòzhě ... huòzhě ...)introduces the first of two options
- 要麼……要麼…… /要么……要么…… (yàome ... yàome ...)introduces the first of two options
Czech buď ... nebo, buď ... anebo
- buď ... nebointroduces the first of two options
- buď ... anebointroduces the first of two options
Danish begge, heller
- beggeeach of two
- heller(after a negative) as well
Dutch beide, ook (niet)
- beideeach of two
- ook (niet)(after a negative) as well
- ofintroduces the first of two options
- ofwelintroduces the first of two options
- hetzijintroduces the first of two options
Esperanto ambaŭ, ĉu
- ambaŭeach of two
- ĉuintroduces the first of two options
Estonian mõlemad, samuti
- mõlemadeach of two
- samuti(after a negative) as well
- kasintroduces the first of two options
Finnish kumpikin, molemmat
- kumpikineach of two
- molemmateach of two
- myöskään(after a negative) as well
- -kaan(after a negative) as well
- -kään(after a negative) as well
- jokointroduces the first of two options
- joko taiintroduces the first of two options
French chaque, les deux
- chaqueeach of two
- les deuxeach of two
- l'un ou l'autreeach of two
- non plus(after a negative) as well
- ouintroduces the first of two options
- soitintroduces the first of two options
- soit ... ouintroduces the first of two options
German beide, auch
- beideeach of two
- auch(after a negative) as well
- ebenso(after a negative) as well
- ebenfalls(after a negative) as well
- entwederintroduces the first of two options
- entweder ... oderintroduces the first of two options
Greek είτε, ούτε
- είτε (eíte)each of two
- ούτε (oúte)(after a negative) as well
- είτε ... είτε (eíte ... eíte)introduces the first of two options
Hungarian vagy, sem
- vagyeach of two
- sem(after a negative) as well
- vagy...vagy...introduces the first of two options
Icelandic annaðhvort
- annaðhvortintroduces the first of two options
Indonesian antara ... atau
- antara ... atauintroduces the first of two options
Irish ach oiread
- ach oiread(after a negative) as well
Italian ciascuno, entrambi
- ciascunoeach of two
- entrambieach of two
- ognieach of two
- neanche(after a negative) as well
- nemmeno(after a negative) as well
- neppure(after a negative) as well
- ointroduces the first of two options
- oppureintroduces the first of two options
Japanese …か…か
- …か…か (-ka ...-ka)introduces the first of two options
Korean ...든지 ...든지, ...든 ...든
- ...든지 ...든지 (...deunji ...-deunji)introduces the first of two options
- ...든 ...든 (...deun ...-deun)introduces the first of two options
Latin alteruter, aut ... aut
- alterutereach of two
- aut ... autintroduces the first of two options
Norwegian heller
- heller(after a negative) as well
Norwegian Bokmål begge, enten
- beggeeach of two
- entenintroduces the first of two options
Persian یا
- یاintroduces the first of two options
Polish oba, też nie
- obaeach of two
- też nie(after a negative) as well
- albo... albo...introduces the first of two options
- ani ... ani...introduces the first of two options
- bądźintroduces the first of two options
Portuguese ambos, qualquer um
- amboseach of two
- qualquer umeach of two
- também não(after a negative) as well
- tampouco(after a negative) as well
- ou ... ouintroduces the first of two options
Romanian fiecare, amândoi
- fiecareeach of two
- amândoieach of two
- nici(after a negative) as well
Russian ка́ждый, та́кже не
- ка́ждый (káždyj)each of two
- та́кже не (tákže ne)(after a negative) as well
- и́ли ... и́ли (íli ... íli)introduces the first of two options
- ли́бо ... ли́бо (líbo ... líbo)introduces the first of two options
Scottish Gaelic aon chuid, an dara cuid
- aon chuidintroduces the first of two options
- an dara cuidintroduces the first of two options
Slovak buď...alebo...
- buď...alebo...introduces the first of two options
Spanish cada, tampoco
- cadaeach of two
- tampoco(after a negative) as well
- o... ointroduces the first of two options
- ya sea... ointroduces the first of two options
- bien... ointroduces the first of two options
- o bien... o bienintroduces the first of two options
- bien... bienintroduces the first of two options
- ahora... ahoraintroduces the first of two options
- ora... oraintroduces the first of two options
- ya... yaintroduces the first of two options
- siquiera... siquieraintroduces the first of two options
Swedish båda, bägge
- bådaeach of two
- bäggeeach of two
- heller(after a negative) as well
- antingen...ellerintroduces the first of two options
Turkish ya ... ya, ya ... ya da
- ya ... yaintroduces the first of two options
- ya ... ya daintroduces the first of two options
Ukrainian ко́жен, тако́ж
- ко́жен (kóžen)each of two
- тако́ж (takóž)(after a negative) as well
- або́ ... або́ (abó ... abó)introduces the first of two options
Vietnamese hoặc … hoặc
- hoặc … hoặcintroduces the first of two options
Welsh chwaith, naill ai … neu
- chwaith(after a negative) as well
- naill ai … neuintroduces the first of two options
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with either
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
either. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/either
“either.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/either. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “either,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/either.
Source: either on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.