different between either vs iter

English

Etymology

From Middle English either, from Old English ??hwæþer, 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: ?th??(r), ?th??(r), IPA^(key): /?a?ð.?(?)/, /?i?ð.?(?)/
• Rhymes: -a?ð?(?), -i?ð?(?)
  • ,
• In the UK, /a?/ is used more in Southern England, and /i?/ is more usual in Northern England. In North America, /i?/ is the most common, but /a?/ 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. Any one (of two).

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

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

   • 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, Clarissa, Letter 51:

     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 […].

Usage notes

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

Synonyms

• (each of two): both, each

Translations

Pronoun

either

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

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

   • 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.

2. (obsolete) Both, each of two or more.
   • 1623, Francis Bacon, A Discourse of a War with Spain

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

   • 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.

Adverb

either (not comparable)

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

Usage notes

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.”

Translations

Conjunction

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.

Translations

See also

• neither
• nor
• or

References

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

Anagrams

• Ethier, theire

Middle English

Alternative forms

• æ?þer, ethir, eiþer, outher

Etymology

From Old English ??þer, a contraction of ??hwæþer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??ið?r/

Determiner

either

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

Descendants

• Scots: aither
• English: either

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.

Descendants

• Scots: aither
• English: either

Adjective

either

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

See also

• ayther

References

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

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin iter (“passage”).

Noun

iter (plural iters)

1. (anatomy) A passage, especially the passage between the third and fourth ventricles in the brain; the cerebral aqueduct.
   • 1916, Mayo Clinic, Collected Papers of the Mayo Clinic and the Mayo Foundation (page 869)

     This fluid passes through the main iters which connect the various ventricles and filters through the thin membranes of the brain and cord, equalizing the pressure at all points.

Anagrams

• REIT, Teri, reit, rite, tier, tire, trie

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin iter (“route”).

Noun

iter m (invariable)

1. procedure, course

   Synonyms: procedura, corso

Anagrams

• erti, etri, irte, reti

Latin

Etymology

Conflation of an r/n-stem (where both stems are conflated, thus gen. itineris from inherited *itinis and analogical *iteris; compare iecur and f?mur), from Proto-Indo-European reconstructed as *h?éy-tr? ~ *h?i-tén-, from *h?ey- (whence e?). Cognate with Tocharian A yt?rye (“path, road”), Avestan ????????????????? (i?na) in ????????????????????-????????????????-? (paⁱri-i?na-, “(end of) lifetime”). Traditionally considered cognate also with Hittite ???????? (itar), a hapax legomenon widely believed to mean “road, path”, but in recent years the existence of this word has come into question, and it has been reinterpreted as a misreading and a ghost word.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?i.ter/, [??t??r]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?i.ter/, [?i?t??r]

Noun

iter n (genitive itineris); third declension

1. a route, whether:
   1. a journey, trip
   2. a march
   3. a course
   4. a path; a road

      Synonym: via

   5. (Medieval Latin, law) a court circuit
2. (Medieval Latin, medicine) a passage

Usage notes

Used in the phrase in itinere to mean abroad.

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

Derived terms

Descendants

• Old French: erre, eirre, oirre
  • French: erre
• ? English: itinerary, iter
• ? Italian: iter
• Portuguese: itinerário

References

• iter in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• iter in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book?^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
• iter in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• iter in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7)?^[3], Leiden, Boston: Brill, ?ISBN

Turkish

Verb

iter

1. third-person singular present simple indicative positive degree of itmek

See also

• iter itmez