different between which vs white
which
English
Alternative forms
- whiche (obsolete)
- wich (Jamaican English)
Etymology
From Middle English which, hwic, wilche, hwilch, whilk, hwilc, from Old English hwel? (“which”), from Proto-Germanic *hwil?kaz (“what kind”, literally “like what”), derived from *hwaz, equivalent to who +? like. Cognates include Scots whilk (“which”), West Frisian hokker (“which”), Dutch welk (“which”), Low German welk (“which”), German welcher (“which”), Danish hvilken (“which”), Swedish vilken (“which”), Norwegian hvilken (“which”), Icelandic hvílíkur (“which”).
Pronunciation
- enPR: w?ch, IPA(key): /w?t??/
- (without the wine–whine merger) enPR: hw?ch, IPA(key): /??t??/
- Rhymes: -?t?
- Homophones: witch, wich, wych (in accents with the wine-whine merger)
Determiner
which
- (interrogative) What, of those mentioned or implied.
- (relative) The one or ones mentioned.
- 1860, Alfred Henry Forrester, Fairy footsteps, or, Lessons from legends, with illustr., by Alfred Crowquill, page 166 (Google Books view):
- After glaring upon the smoking philosopher, who took his misfortunes with such positive nonchalance, he growled out an oath in German, which language is particularly adapted for growling in; then, raising his hand, he dealt him a blow on his pipe, which sent it, like a rocket, into the midst of the players.
- 1860, Alfred Henry Forrester, Fairy footsteps, or, Lessons from legends, with illustr., by Alfred Crowquill, page 166 (Google Books view):
Translations
Pronoun
which
- (interrogative) What one or ones (of those mentioned or implied).
- (relative) Who; whom; what (of those mentioned or implied).
- 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Luke 1:1
- Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us...
- There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.
- 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Luke 1:1
- (relative, archaic) Used of people (now generally who, whom or that).
- 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Acts IX:
- The men which acompanyed him on his waye stode amased, for they herde a voyce, butt sawe no man.
- 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Acts IX:
Usage notes
- (US usage) Some authorities insist that relative which be used only in non-restrictive clauses. For restrictive clauses (e.g., The song that you just mentioned is better than the later ones), they prefer that. But Fowler, who proposed the rule, himself acknowledged that it was "not the practice of most or of the best writers". Even E. B. White, a notorious "which-hunter", wrote this: "the premature expiration of a pig is, I soon discovered, a departure which the community marks solemnly on its calendar." In modern UK usage, The song which you just mentioned is better than the later ones is generally accepted without question.
- As a relative pronoun, which (not that) is used when the relative clause is non-restrictive (e.g., "I saw Tom's car, which was parked outside his house") or when it is the object of a preposition placed in front of the pronoun (e.g., "These are the things about which we shall talk", "There were many fish, the biggest of which...").
- When which (or the other relative pronouns who and that) is used as the subject of a relative clause, the verb agrees with the antecedent of the pronoun. Thus, "the thing which is...", "the things which are...", etc.
- Which is commonly used, sometimes with partitive of, instead of who (the ordinary interrogative pronoun, in the nominative singular or plural) to refer to a person or persons, and corresponding to what of things. Compare "which of us always uses who for people" and "who among us has never used which for a person". Neither "who of us" nor "which among us" is idiomatic.
Derived terms
- whichever
- whichsoever
Related terms
- every which way
- every which where
- which is which
Translations
Noun
which (plural whiches)
- An occurrence of the word which.
- 1959, William Van O'Connor, Modern prose, form and style (page 251)
- The ofs and the whiches have thrown our prose into a hundred-years' sleep.
- 1989, Donald Ervin Knuth, Tracy Larrabee, Paul M. Roberts, Mathematical writing (page 90)
- Is it not true, TLL asked of Mary-Claire, that people invariably get their whiches and thats right when they speak?
- 1959, William Van O'Connor, Modern prose, form and style (page 251)
Middle English
Alternative forms
- hwic, hwilc, hwilch, whiche, whilk, whyche, wilche
Pronoun
which
- which
- 1407, The Testimony of William Thorpe, pages 40–41
- And I seide, “Ser, in his tyme maister Ioon Wiclef was holden of ful many men the grettis clerk that thei knewen lyuynge vpon erthe. And therwith he was named, as I gesse worthili, a passing reuli man and an innocent in al his lyuynge. And herfore grete men of kunnynge and other also drowen myche to him, and comownede ofte with him. And thei sauouriden so his loore that thei wroten it bisili and enforsiden hem to rulen hem theraftir… Maister Ion Aston taughte and wroot acordingli and ful bisili, where and whanne and to whom he myghte, and he vsid it himsilf, I gesse, right perfyghtli vnto his lyues eende. Also Filip of Repintoun whilis he was a chanoun of Leycetre, Nycol Herforde, dane Geffrey of Pikeringe, monke of Biland and a maistir dyuynyte, and Ioon Purueye, and manye other whiche weren holden rightwise men and prudent, taughten and wroten bisili this forseide lore of Wiclef, and conformeden hem therto. And with alle these men I was ofte homli and I comownede with hem long tyme and fele, and so bifore alle othir men I chees wilfulli to be enformed bi hem and of hem, and speciali of Wiclef himsilf, as of the moost vertuous and goodlich wise man that I herde of owhere either knew. And herfore of Wicleef speciali and of these men I toke the lore whiche I haue taughte and purpose to lyue aftir, if God wole, to my lyues ende.”
- 1407, The Testimony of William Thorpe, pages 40–41
References
- “which” listed in the Middle English Dictionary [2001]
which From the web:
- what which one
- what which means
- what which to use
- what which am i
- what which are you
- what which do i use
- what which sandwich
- what which part of speech
white
English
Alternative forms
- whight, whyte, whyght (obsolete)
- White (race-related)
Etymology
From Middle English whit, hwit, from Old English hw?t, from Proto-West Germanic *hw?t, from Proto-Germanic *hw?taz (whence also West Frisian wyt, Dutch wit, German weiß, Norwegian Bokmål hvit, Norwegian Nynorsk kvit), from Proto-Indo-European *?weydós, a byform of *?weytós (“bright; shine”). Compare Lithuanian švi?sti (“to gleam”), šviesa (“light”), Old Church Slavonic ????? (sv?t?, “light”), ??????? (sv?t?l?, “clear, bright”), Persian ????? (sefid), Avestan ????????????????????????? (spa?ta, “white”), Sanskrit ????? (?vetá, “white, bright”).
Pronunciation
- enPR: w?t, IPA(key): /wa?t/
- (without the wine–whine merger) enPR: hw?t, IPA(key): /?a?t/
- Rhymes: -a?t
- Homophones: wight, Wight, wite (accents with the wine-whine merger)
Adjective
white (comparative whiter or more white, superlative whitest or most white)
- Bright and colourless; reflecting equal quantities of all frequencies of visible light.
- c. 1878, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "Holidays"
- white as the whitest lily on a stream.
- 1381, quoted in Hans Kurath & Sherman M. Kuhn, eds., Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, ISBN 978-0-472-01044-8, page 1242 (1961):
- dorr??, d?r? adj. & n. […] cook. glazed with a yellow substance; pome(s ~, sopes ~. […] 1381 Pegge Cook. Recipes page 114: For to make Soupys dorry. Nym onyons […] Nym wyn […] toste wyte bred and do yt in dischis, and god Almande mylk.
- Antonyms: black, nonwhite, unwhite
- c. 1878, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "Holidays"
- (sometimes capitalized) Of or relating to Caucasians, people of European descent with light-coloured skin.
- (chiefly historical) Designated for use by Caucasians.
- Relatively light or pale in colour.
- Pale or pallid, as from fear, illness, etc.
- (of a person or skin) Lacking coloration (tan) from ultraviolet light; not tanned.
- Synonyms: fair, pale
- Antonym: tanned
- (of coffee or tea) Containing cream, milk, or creamer.
- Antonym: black
- (board games, chess) The standard denomination of the playing pieces of a board game deemed to belong to the white set, no matter what the actual colour.
- Pertaining to an ecclesiastical order whose adherents dress in white habits; Cistercian.
- Honourable, fair; decent.
- White as thy fame, and as thy honour clear.
- 1916, Julia Frankau, Twilight
- He's a fine fellow, this Gabriel Stanton, a white man all through
- 1953, Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye, Penguin, 2010, p.12:
- ‘We've only met twice and you've been more than white to me both times.’
- Grey, as from old age; having silvery hair; hoary.
- (archaic) Characterized by freedom from that which disturbs, and the like; fortunate; happy; favourable.
- (obsolete) Regarded with especial favour; favourite; darling.
- Come forth, my white spouse.
- c. 1626, John Ford, Tis Pity She's a Whore
- I am his white boy, and will not be gulled.
- (politics) Pertaining to constitutional or anti-revolutionary political parties or movements.
- 1932, Duff Cooper, Talleyrand, Folio Society, 2010, p.163:
- Aimée de Coigny had always adopted with enthusiasm the political views of her ruling lover and she had thus already held nearly every shade of opinion from red republicanism to white reaction.
- 1932, Duff Cooper, Talleyrand, Folio Society, 2010, p.163:
- (of tea) Made from immature leaves and shoots.
- (typography) Not containing characters; see white space.
- (typography) Said of a symbol or character outline, not solid, not filled with color. Compare black (“said of a character or symbol filled with color”).
- Compare two Unicode symbols: ? = "WHITE RIGHT POINTING INDEX"; ? = "BLACK RIGHT POINTING INDEX"
- Characterised by the presence of snow.
Derived terms
Related terms
Descendants
- Bislama: waet
- Tok Pisin: wait
- ? Japanese: ???? (howaito)
- white fella
- ? Nyunga: wadjela
- white gin
- ? Gamilaraay: waatyin
- ? Ngiyambaa: wadjiin
- ? Wiradhuri: waajin
Translations
See white/translations § Adjective.
Noun
white (countable and uncountable, plural whites)
- The color/colour of snow or milk; the colour of light containing equal amounts of all visible wavelengths.
- A person of European descent with light-coloured skin.
- Any butterfly of the family Pieridae.
- (countable and uncountable) White wine.
- (countable) Any object or substance that is of the color white.
- The albumen of bird eggs (egg white).
- (anatomy) The sclera, white of the eye.
- (sports, billiards, snooker, pool) The cue ball in cue games.
- (slang, US) Cocaine
- The snow- or ice-covered "green" in snow golf.
- A white pigment.
- Venice white
- (archery) The central part of the butt, which was formerly painted white; the centre of a mark at which a missile is shot.
- The enclosed part of a letter of the alphabet, especially when handwritten.
- 1594, Hugh Plat, The Jewell House of Art and Nature, London, Chapter 38, p. 42,[3]
- Also it giueth a great grace to your writing, if the whites of certeine letters bee made of one equall bignesse with the o. supposing the same were all round, as the white of the b. of the a. p. y. v. w. x. q. d. g. and s.
- 1677, Hannah Woolley, The Compleat Servant-Maid, London: T. Passinger, p. 18,[4]
- […] the a. b. d. g. o. p. q. &c. […] must be made with equal whites.
- 1931, Margery Allingham, Police at the Funeral, Penguin, 1939, Chapter 14, p. 157,[5]
- She copied the whole alphabet like that, as though only the inside whites of the letters registered on her mind.
- 1594, Hugh Plat, The Jewell House of Art and Nature, London, Chapter 38, p. 42,[3]
Derived terms
Translations
Verb
white (third-person singular simple present whites, present participle whiting, simple past and past participle whited)
- (transitive) To make white; to whiten; to bleach.
- whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of […] uncleanness
- so as no fuller on earth can white them
Derived terms
- white out
See also
- leucite
- leukoma
- leukosis
- Sauvignon blanc
- Svetambara
- terra alba
Further reading
- white on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- Race on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- white on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
Anagrams
- withe
Middle English
Adjective
white
- inflection of whit:
- weak singular
- strong/weak plural
- Alternative form of whit
white From the web:
- what white wine is good for cooking
- what white wine is dry
- what whitens teeth
- what white wine is sweet
- what whitening strips are the best
- what white blood cells do
- what white heart means
- what white roses mean
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