else

See also: Else and -else

English

Etymology

From Middle English ells, elles, from Old English elles (“other, otherwise, different”), from Proto-West Germanic *alljas, from Proto-Germanic *aljas (“of another, of something else”), genitive of *aljaz (“other”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂élyos, from *h₂el- (“other”).

Cognate with Old Frisian elles (“other”), Old High German elles, ellies (“other”), Danish eller (“or”), Danish ellers (“otherwise”), Swedish eljes, eljest (“or else, otherwise”), Norwegian elles (“else, otherwise”), Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌾𐌹𐍃 (aljis, “other”), Latin alius (“other, another”), Ancient Greek ἄλλος (állos), Arcadocypriot αἶλος (aîlos), modern Greek αλλιώς (alliós, “otherwise, else”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /ɛls/
• (colloquial) IPA^(key): /ɛlts/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛls

Adjective

else (not comparable)

1. (postpositive, used only with indefinite or interrogative pronouns) Other; in addition to previously mentioned items.

   The instructor is busy. Can anyone else help me?

   Whatever else she may be, she is not a surgeon.

   When all else fails, read the instructions.

   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

     Prospero:
     Thou hast done well, fine Ariel. Follow me;
     Hark what thou else shalt do me.

   • 2013, Keith T. Krawczynski, Daily Life in the Colonial City:

     As with most else in society, early Americans believed that health and healing were in God's hand.

Usage notes

• This adjective usually follows an indefinite or interrogative pronoun, as in the examples above. In other cases, the adjective other is typically used.

Derived terms

Terms derived from the adjective else

• all else being equal
• all else the same
• anybody else
• anyone else
• anyplace else
• anything else
• anywhere else
• elif
• elsehow
• elseness
• elseward
• elseweb
• elsewhat
• elsewhen
• elsewhence
• elsewhere
• elsewhither
• elsewho
• elsewhom
• elsewise
• elseworld
• everybody else
• everyone else
• everywhere else
• if all else fails
• if nothing else
• like nobody else
• most else
• much else
• nobody else
• nothing else
• nothing else for it
• nowhen else
• nowhere else
• somebody else
• someone else
• someplace else
• something else
• somewhere else
• what else
• what else is new

Translations

other

• Arabic: غَيْر (ar) (ḡayr); آخَر (ar) (ʔāḵar)
• Catalan: més (ca), altre (ca)
• Czech: jiný (cs), ostatní (cs)
• Finnish: muu (fi)
• French: d'autre (fr)
• German: (following pronouns) anders (de); sonst (de); (otherwise) anderer (de)
• Hungarian: más (hu)
• Khmer: ទៀត (km) (tiet)
• Latin: alius (la)
• Polish: inny (pl)
• Portuguese: mais (pt)
• Romanian: altceva (ro), altcineva (ro)
• Russian: ещё (ru) (ješčó)
• Slovak: iný
• Slovene: drug (sl)
• Spanish: más (es)
• Swedish: annat (sv) (things)
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can

Adverb

else (not comparable)

1. (usually follows interrogative adverbs) Otherwise, if not.

   How else (= in what other way) can it be done?

   I'm busy Friday; when else (= what other time) works for you?

   • 1842 December – 1844 July, Charles Dickens, The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1844, →OCLC:

     The crust of ice on the else rippling brook was so transparent, and so thin in texture, that the lively water might of its own free will have stopped—in Tom’s glad mind it had—to look upon the lovely morning.

Usage notes

• (otherwise): This word frequently follows interrogative adverbs, such as how, why, and when, as well as the derived however, whyever, and whenever.

Synonyms

• otherwise

Derived terms

• or else

Translations

word that implies any result with the exception of the one being referred to

• Bulgarian: иначе (bg) (inače), освен това (osven tova)
• Danish: ellers
• Dutch: zoniet, anders (nl), in het andere geval
• French: sinon (fr), autrement (fr)
• Georgian: სხვანაირად (sxvanairad), სხვაგვარად (sxvagvarad)
• German: sonst (de), anders (de), andernfalls (de), ansonsten (de)
• Greek: αλλιώς (el) (alliós)
• Hungarian: (of manner [all]) máshogy (hu), máshogyan (hu), másként (hu), másképp (hu), (of time) máskor (hu)
• Italian: altro (it)
• Japanese: 然も無くば (samonakuba)
• Latin: alioqui
• Lithuanian: o dar
• Polish: inaczej (pl)
• Portuguese: senão (pt), em vez de (pt), além disso (pt)
• Russian: ина́че (ru) (ináče)
• Slovak: inak
• Spanish: más (es), sino (es)
• Swedish: annars (sv)
• Tamil: வேறு (ta) (vēṟu)
• Yiddish: אַנישט (anisht), אַניט (anit)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} u suprotnom

Conjunction

else

1. For otherwise; or else.

   Then the Wronskian of f and g must be nonzero, else they could not be linearly independent.

   • 1903 July, Jack London, “The Law of Club and Fang”, in The Call of the Wild, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, page 44:

     He had never seen dogs fight as these wolfish creatures fought, and his first experience taught him an unforgetable lesson. It is true, it was a vicarious experience, else he would not have lived to profit by it.

Derived terms

• if-then-else
• dangling else

Translations

for otherwise — see also or else

• Arabic: وَإِلَا (wa-ʔilā)
• French: autrement (fr), sinon (fr)
• German: andernfalls (de), ansonsten (de), sonst (de)
• Low German:

  German Low German: süs (nds)

• Portuguese: senão (pt)
• Slovene: sicer
• Spanish: sino (es)
• Swedish: annars (sv)
• Tamil: இல்லையெனில் (illaiyeṉil)

See also

• and
• if
• not
• or
• then

Anagrams

• slee, Slee, lese, lees, EELS, Lees, eels, seel, sele, ELEs, l'ees

Italian

Noun

else f

1. plural of elsa

Anagrams

• Sele, lese