else
Pronunciation: /ɛls/
The English word “else” has 3 meanings listed here.
adjective
- Other; in addition to previously mentioned items.
adverb
- Otherwise, if not.
conjunction
- For otherwise; or else.
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…
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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.