also

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English also, also alswa,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English ealswā (“just as, likewise”), also alswā and ælswā,^[3][4][5] a compound of eall (“all, altogether”) and swā (“so”).^[6][7][8][4] The OED says it began as an intensified form of so.^[9][6] It has cognates or parallel formations in Old Frisian alsa, Old Dutch alsō, Old Saxon alsō, Old High German alsō, German also (“therefore”) and Dutch alzo.^[9][10][11] It is a doublet of as, which is a reduced form of it.^[4][6][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Old English, "wholly so, in this very manner", "therefore, then" and "likewise", as well as a further sense "in addition", which the OED finds already in Ælfric's Grammar.^[9] Barnhart, citing that text for the Old English word, gives "entirely so, quite so", and dates the Middle English alswa "likewise, similarly" to before 1131.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The sense "wholly so" weakened to "in the same way" and "in addition".^[6][7] The OED keeps "wholly so" until 1530, "therefore" until 1425 and "likewise" until 1600,^[9][12] and Ayto says that "thus" died out in the 15th century and "similarly" in the 17th, with "similarly" already developing into "in addition" by the 13th.^[7] Etymonline dates the use for connecting sentences, "in addition, moreover", to about 1200.^[6] In that sense the word took over from eke.^[6][7] The reduced forms alse and als and as settled in some constructions and the fuller form in others, and the MED finds no clear distinction between also and as until the 15th century.^[2][6] Johnson (1755) gave "in the same manner; likewise" first, adding that the word is sometimes nearly the same as and.^[13] Merriam-Webster dates an obsolete conjunction meaning "as, as if" to the 13th century,^[3] and the Shorter Oxford limits it to Middle English;^[10] the noun for an additional item or person is recorded from 1709, in Prior.^[9] American underworld slang recorded in 1950 had the also, spelled alzo, for an arrangement with the authorities, usually through bribery, that lets a gang operate in an area.^[14]

Timeline

• Old English – wholly so; therefore; likewise; in addition.^[9]
• before 1131 – Middle English alswa, likewise, similarly.^[4]
• 13th century – as a conjunction, as, as if (obsolete).^[3]
• 1709 – noun, an additional item or person.^[9]
• 1950 – American underworld slang, the also, a protected arrangement with the authorities.^[14]

Meanings

Adverb

1. In addition; as well; too: The bakery also sells coffee.^[15][3][9]
2. (archaic) In the same way; likewise.^[3][10]
3. (obsolete, Old English–1530) Wholly so; in this very manner.^[9][10]

Conjunction

1. And; besides; moreover: The room was cold, also damp.^[15][3]
2. (obsolete) As, as if.^[3][10]

Noun

1. An instance of the word also; an additional point, item or person.^[9]

Word family

• also-ran

Related words

• as
• all
• so
• although
• alone
• altogether

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
15. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins