which

English Online Dictionary. What means which‎? What does which mean?

English

Alternative forms

• whiche (obsolete)
• wich (Jamaican English)

Etymology

From Middle English which, hwic, wilche, hwilch, whilk, hwilc, from Old English hwelċ (“which”), from Proto-Germanic *hwilīkaz (“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: wĭch, IPA^(key): /wɪt͡ʃ/
• (without the wine–whine merger) enPR: hwĭch, IPA^(key): /ʍɪt͡ʃ/
• (in accents with the wine–whine merger)
• (in accents with the wine–whine merger)
• Rhymes: -ɪtʃ
• Homophones: witch, wich, wych (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

Determiner

which

1. (interrogative) What, of those mentioned or implied.

2. The/Any ... that; whichever.

3. (relative, formal outside certain phrases) Designates the one(s) previously 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.

Usage notes

In cases where both "which" and "what" are possible, with similar meaning, "which" is preferred for choices from a closed group or set, while "what" is preferred for open-ended choices. For example, "Which one of these do you want?" not "What one of these do you want?".

Translations

Pronoun

which

1. (interrogative) What one or ones (of those mentioned or implied).

2. The/Any ones that; whichever.

3. (relative) Introduces a relative clause giving further information about something previously mentioned.
   • 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.
4. (relative, chiefly archaic) Used of people (now generally who, whom, that; which remains possible with words also referred to by it like baby, child).

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

Middle English

Alternative forms

• hwic, hwilc, hwilch, whiche, whilk, whyche, wilche

Etymology

From Old English hwelċ, from Proto-Germanic *hwilīkaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʍit͡ʃ/

Pronoun

which

1. which

Descendants

• English: which
• Scots: whilk, whulk; quhilk, whilke
• Yola: wich, which, whilke

References

• “which” listed in the Middle English Dictionary [2001]
• “which, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Yola

Pronoun

which

1. Alternative form of wich

References

• Jacob Poole (1867), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, page 102