all

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English al, also all,^[2][3] inherited from Old English eall, also all,^[4][5][6][2] inherited from Proto-Germanic *allaz,^[1] for which Etymonline, Barnhart and Ayto give the older form *alnaz.^[4][5][7] It is cognate with Old Saxon al, Old Frisian al, Old High German al, German all, Dutch al, Old Norse allr and Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌻𐍃 (alls).^[8][5][6][3] Its connections outside Germanic are uncertain.^[4][8][7] Barnhart traces it to Proto-Indo-European *alnos,^[5] and Kroonen to *h₂el-nó-, comparing Oscan allo (“whole”) and Lithuanian aliai (“completely”).^[9][7] The OED suggests a suffixed form of the root of Latin alō (the source of aliment), so perhaps first "full-grown", hence "complete"; it mentions too a proposed link with else, and calls the connection with Old Irish uile and Welsh oll, both "all, every", uncertain and disputed.^[8] Merriam-Webster gives the basic meaning as "beyond", comparing uls (“beyond”).^[2] It is the first part of albeit and alone.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The whole of, every: Old English eall, about 725 in Beowulf.^[5] The OED's earliest quotations, from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, use it with nouns for a whole area or people.^[8] Old English also used it as an adverb, "fully, wholly", and as a noun, "everything".^[4]

Semantic evolution

Old English already formed many compounds with it in the sense "wholly, without limit", such as the ancestor of almighty, and the habit continued.^[4] Middle English had al-wher, wherever, from the early 14th century, al-soon, as soon as possible, and al-what, all sorts of things.^[4] The phrase at all, in any way, dates from the mid-14th century, and all from the 1530s, and all but from the 1590s.^[4] Johnson (1755) defined it as "the whole number; every one", quoting Antony's "So are they all, all honourable men".^[10] The noun one's all, the whole of one's possessions or what one holds dear, is recorded from 1598.^[2] Later phrases include all right as assent (1837), all out (1880) and all clear (1902).^[4] In English dialects all could mean "quite" of time or distance, as in Durham it'll be all that, and the Scots form a’ has a history going back to the 13th century.^[11][4]

Timeline

• c. 725 – eall, the whole of, every, in Beowulf.^[5]
• mid-14th century – at all, in any way.^[4]
• 1530s – and all, and everything else.^[4]
• 1590s – all but, everything short of.^[4]
• 1598 – noun, one's whole possessions.^[2]
• 1837 – all right, expressing assent.^[4]
• 1880 – all out, with all one's strength.^[4]
• 1902 – all clear, a signal that danger is over.^[4]

Meanings

Determiner

1. The whole amount or extent of: She spent all the money.^[12][2][8]
2. Every one of a class or group: All children need sleep.^[12][8]
3. The greatest possible: in all seriousness.^[12]
4. Any whatever: beyond all question.^[12]

Pronoun

1. Everyone or everything; the whole number or amount: All were welcome.^[12][2]

Adverb

1. Wholly, entirely: She sat all alone.^[2][4]

Noun

1. The whole of one's possessions, or of what one holds dear: He gave his all.^[2]

Word family

• allness

Related words

• albeit
• almighty
• almost
• alone
• already
• alright
• also
• although
• altogether
• always

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
8. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
12. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins