which

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English which, earlier hwich and whilch,^[2][1] inherited from Old English hwilc (West Saxon), with Anglian hwælc and Northumbrian hualc,^[3] a word meaning literally "of what form".^[3][4][5] It comes from Proto-Germanic *hwilīkaz (“what kind”),^[1][6] a compound of the interrogative stem of who and the Germanic word for "body, form", the source of lich and like;^[7][8][3] each and such are formed in the same way.^[8][9] The first element goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kʷo-, the stem of relative and interrogative pronouns.^[3][10] The OED sees two Germanic formations behind the forms, one with a and one with i.^[7] Old English also had the forms hwelc and hwylc, which disappeared in the 15th century.^[3][2] Its relatives include Old Saxon hwilīk, Old Frisian hwelik, Dutch welk, Old High German hwelīh, German welch, Swedish vilken, Danish hvilken and Gothic 𐍈𐌹𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃 (hwileiks).^[7][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of what kind; which one, in questions: before 899, in Alfred's translation of Boethius.^[2] The OED's first quotation is from Alfred's translation of Gregory's Pastoral Care.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In Old English the word could ask "of what kind?" (a sense lost about 1500), express surprise, like "what a…" (until about 1450), and mean "any" in conditional clauses (until about 1175).^[7] Its use as a relative began in late Old English, in the Peterborough Chronicle,^[7] and Hoad dates the relative pronoun and adjective to the 12th century.^[9] In Middle English it was used for persons where Modern English uses who, as still in the Lord's Prayer, Our Father, which art in heaven.^[3][11] Johnson (1755) gave its relative use for things as the first sense.^[12] Whether the which was modelled on French is uncertain, the OED says.^[7] The relative adjective ("which order has since been updated") goes back to Anglo-Saxon times and is now mostly legal or official.^[13] Whichever is recorded about 1395, in the Wycliffite Bible.^[2]

Timeline

• before 899 – of what kind; which one, in questions.^[2][7]
• late Old English – relative use.^[7] Hoad dates it to the 12th century.^[9]
• c. 1200 – the forms hwich and whilch.^[2]
• before 1300 – the form whiche, in Arthour and Merlin.^[2]
• c. 1395 – whichever.^[2]

Meanings

Determiner

1. What one or ones out of a group, in direct or indirect questions: Which road leads to the harbour?^[14][15]
2. Whatever, any that: Take which seat you like.^[15]
3. Introducing a relative clause and referring back: …, which offer was refused.^[13][7]

Pronoun

1. What one or ones out of a group: Which of these coats is yours?^[14][15]
2. Introducing a relative clause about a thing or animal: the house which we rented.^[16][14]
3. Referring to a whole preceding clause: He resigned, which surprised everyone.^[17]

Word family

• whichever
• whichsoever
• every which way

Related words

• who
• what
• like
• lich
• each
• such

Usage notes

Which is used of things and animals; its former use of persons ("a man which I know") is now nonstandard.^[16] Random House calls the rule that which may introduce only nonrestrictive clauses baseless: about three quarters of the relative which clauses in edited prose are restrictive.^[16] American usage guides nonetheless prefer that for restrictive clauses and which, set off by commas, for nonrestrictive ones.^[18] When which refers to a whole clause, the American Heritage Dictionary advises care that the reference is clear.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b O'Conner, Patricia T.; Kellerman, Stewart, The Grammarphobia Blog, grammarphobia.com, p. "Is this ‘which’ dead?", 11 September 2023
14. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
15. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
17. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
18. ^ O'Conner, Patricia T.; Kellerman, Stewart, The Grammarphobia Blog, grammarphobia.com, p. "Which hunting", 28 April 2010