else
English Edit
Etymology Edit
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 Edit
- (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA(key): /ɛls/
- (colloquial) IPA(key): /ɛlts/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛls
Adjective Edit
else (not comparable)
- (postpositive, used only with indefinite or interrogative pronouns) Other; in addition to previously mentioned items.
- The instructor is busy. Can anyone else help me?
- 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 Edit
- 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 Edit
Terms derived from the adjective else
- all else being equal
- all else the same
- anybody else
- anyone else
- anyplace else
- anything else
- anywhere else
- dangling else
- elsehow
- elseness
- elseward
- elsewhat
- elsewhen
- elsewhence
- elsewhere
- elsewhither
- elsewho
- elsewhom
- elsewise
- everybody else
- everyone else
- everything else
- everywhere else
- if nothing else
- most else
- much else
- nobody else
- nothing else
- nothing else for it
- nowhere else
- somebody else
- someone else
- someplace else
- something else
- somewhere else
- what else
- what else is new
Translations Edit
other
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Adverb Edit
else (not comparable)
- (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 Edit
- (otherwise): This word frequently follows interrogative adverbs, such as how, why, and when, as well as the derived however, whyever, and whenever.
Synonyms Edit
Derived terms Edit
Translations Edit
word that implies any result with the exception of the one being referred to
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- 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
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Conjunction Edit
else
- 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 Edit
Translations Edit
for otherwise — see also or else
See also Edit
Anagrams Edit
Italian Edit
Noun Edit
else f