either

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).

• enPR: ī′thə(r), ē′thə(r) IPA^(key): /ˈaɪ.ðə(ɹ)/, /ˈiː.ðə(ɹ)/

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• Rhymes: -aɪðə(ɹ), -iːðə(ɹ)
• (obsolete (in use until the 20th c.)) enPR: ā′thə(r) IPA^(key): /ˈeɪ.ðə(ɹ)/
• 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. /eɪ/ was once heard in Northern England, but has now largely fallen into disuse.[1]

either

1. Any one (of two).

   You can have it in either colour.

2. Each of two; both. [from 9th c.]

   There is a locomotive at either end of the train, one pulling and the other pushing.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

     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.

3. (now rare) Any one (of more than two).
   • 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; […], OCLC 13631815:

     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 […] .

• When there are more than two alternatives, in the sense of “one of many”, any is now generally used instead.

• (each of two): both, each

either

1. One or the other of two people or things.

   He made me two offers, but I did not accept either.

   • 2013 September 7, Daniel Taylor, “Danny Welbeck leads England's rout of Moldova but hit by Ukraine ban”, in The Guardian‎:

     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.

2. (obsolete) Both, each of two or more.
   • a. 1627 (date written)​, Francis [Bacon], “Considerations Touching a VVarre vvith Spaine. […]”, in William Rawley, editor, Certaine Miscellany VVorks of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount S. Alban. […], London: […] I. Hauiland for Humphrey Robinson, […], published 1629, OCLC 557721855:

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

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938:

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

   • 1872, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., The Poet at the Breakfast-Table

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

either (not comparable)

1. (conjunctive, after a negative) 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.

   • 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.

After a positive statement, too is commonly used: “I like him, and I like her too.”

Either is sometimes used, especially in North American English, where neither would be more traditionally accurate: “I’m not hungry.” “Me either.”

either

1. 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.

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

   • 2006 December 5, quoting Jackie Mason, “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.

   • 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.

• neither
• nor
• or

• “either”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

• Ethier, theire

• æȝþer, ethir, eiþer, outher

From Old English ǣġþer, a contraction of ǣġhwæþer.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛi̯ðər/

either

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

• English: either
• Scots: aither

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.

• English: either
• Scots: aither

either

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

• ayther

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