Alternative forms

• whiche (obsolete)
• wich (Jamaica)

Etymology

From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#WHICHCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#WHICH which, hwic, wilche, hwilch, whilk, hwilc, from Old EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Old English#WHICHCategory:English terms derived from Old English#WHICH hwelċ (“which”), from Proto-GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic#WHICHCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Germanic#WHICH *hwilīkaz (“what kind”, literally “like what”), derived from *hwaz. By surface analysis, 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/Category:English 1-syllable words#WHICHCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#WHICH
• (without the wine–whine merger) enPR: hwĭch, IPA^(key): /ʍɪt͡ʃ/Category:English 1-syllable words#WHICHCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#WHICH

• Audio (US, wine–whine merger):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#WHICH

• Audio (UK, wine–whine merger):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#WHICH
• Rhymes: -ɪtʃCategory:Rhymes:English/ɪtʃ#WHICHCategory:Rhymes:English/ɪtʃ/1 syllable#WHICH
• Homophones: witch, wich, wych (wine–whine merger)Category:English terms with homophones#WHICH

Conjunction

whichCategory:English lemmas#WHICHCategory:English conjunctions#WHICHCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#WHICHCategory:Pages with entries#WHICHCategory:Pages with 4 entries#WHICH

1. (nonstandardCategory:English nonstandard terms#WHICH, originally anacoluthic) And.

   They only offered me five dollars, which I wouldn’t do it for less than fifteen.Category:English terms with usage examples#WHICH

Determiner

whichCategory:English lemmas#WHICHCategory:English determiners#WHICHCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#WHICHCategory:Pages with entries#WHICHCategory:Pages with 4 entries#WHICH

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

   Which song shall we play?Category:English terms with usage examples#WHICH

   They couldn't decide which song to play.Category:English terms with usage examples#WHICH

   Which one is bigger?Category:English terms with usage examples#WHICH

   Show me which one is bigger.Category:English terms with usage examples#WHICH

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

   Take which one you want.Category:English terms with usage examples#WHICH

   You may go which way you please.Category:English terms with usage examples#WHICH

3. (relative, formalCategory:English formal terms#WHICH 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.

   • 2015 January 21, Texas Public Radio, “Voices From Death Row: A Prisoner Writes An Ode To ‘Living Dyingly’”, in Texas Public Radio:

     Whitaker’s blog post, housed on a website called Minutes Before Six, goes on to make references to Albert Camus’ 1947 classic, The Plague, dips into a Camus-inspired existential ramble and returns to an attempt to convey the detail of Prieto’s being essentially “noble,” which fact, he admits, will be lost in translation to anyone unfamiliar with death row units.

     Category:English terms with quotations#WHICH

   • 2015 May 2, Adarsh Matham, “Battle of the Smartphones”, in The New Indian Express:

     All the phones come in plastic bodies that have been given a brushed-metal finish and carry 64-bit processors from Intel, which fact they proudly announce with an Intel Inside logo on the back.

     Category:English terms with quotations#WHICH

   He once owned a painting of the house, which painting would later be stolen.Category:English terms with usage examples#WHICH

   She only speaks Chinese, which language I can hardly follow.Category:English terms with usage examples#WHICH

   For several seconds he sat in silence, during which time the tea and sandwiches arrived.Category:English terms with usage examples#WHICH

   I'm thinking of getting a new car, in which case I'd get a red one.Category:English terms with usage examples#WHICH

Pronoun

whichCategory:English lemmas#WHICHCategory:English pronouns#WHICHCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#WHICHCategory:Pages with entries#WHICHCategory:Pages with 4 entries#WHICH

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

   Which is which?Category:English terms with usage examples#WHICH

   By now, you must surely know which is which.Category:English terms with usage examples#WHICH

   Which is bigger, the red one or the blue one?Category:English terms with usage examples#WHICH

   I'm unable to determine which is bigger.Category:English terms with usage examples#WHICH

   Which's your spouse? -The one in trousers.Category:English terms with usage examples#WHICH

   • 2013 August 17, Schumpeter, “In praise of laziness”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8849:

     Which of these banes of modern business life is worse remains open to debate. But what is clear is that office workers are on a treadmill of pointless activity. Managers allow meetings to drag on for hours. Workers generate e-mails because it requires little effort and no thought. An entire management industry exists to spin the treadmill ever faster.

     Category:English terms with quotations#WHICH

2. (not in common use) The/Any ones that; whichever.

   Please take which you please.Category:English terms with usage examples#WHICH

3. (relative) In a non-restrictive relative clause, referring to something previously mentioned.
   1. Referring to a preceding noun.

      I dropped a saucepan, which knocked over the eggs, which went all over the kitchen floor.Category:English terms with usage examples#WHICH

      I found my camera, which I thought I'd lost, under the bed.Category:English terms with usage examples#WHICH

      I entered the room, at the far end of which was a small table.Category:English terms with usage examples#WHICH

      • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

        Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. […] A silver snaffle on a heavy leather watch guard which connected the pockets of his corduroy waistcoat, together with a huge gold stirrup in his Ascot tie, sufficiently proclaimed his tastes.

        Category:English terms with quotations#WHICH

      • 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0091:

        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.

        Category:English terms with quotations#WHICH

      • 2013 May-June, Katrina G. Claw, “Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:

        Many genes with reproductive roles also have antibacterial and immune functions, which indicate that the threat of microbial attack on the sperm or egg may be a major influence on rapid evolution during reproduction.

        Category:English terms with quotations#WHICH

      1. (chiefly archaicCategory:English terms with archaic senses#WHICH) Used of people (now generally who, whom, that; which remains possible with words also referred to by it such as baby, child).

         She had a young child, which cried incessantly.Category:English terms with usage examples#WHICH

   2. Referring to a preceding statement.

      The front door was open, which concerned me.Category:English terms with usage examples#WHICH

      He had to leave, which was very difficult.Category:English terms with usage examples#WHICH

      She saved my life, for which I am eternally grateful.Category:English terms with usage examples#WHICH

      • 2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:

        Plastics are energy-rich substances, which is why many of them burn so readily. Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field.

        Category:English terms with quotations#WHICH

4. (relative, sometimes proscribedCategory:English proscribed terms#WHICH, see usage notes) In a restrictive relative clause, referring to a noun previously mentioned.

   This is the letter which I received.Category:English terms with usage examples#WHICH

   This is the letter in which he explains his decision.Category:English terms with usage examples#WHICH

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 1:1:

     Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us...

     Category:English terms with quotations#WHICH

   1. (chiefly archaicCategory:English terms with archaic senses#WHICH) Used of people.
      • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts:

        The men which acompanyed him on his waye stode amased, for they herde a voyce, butt sawe no man.

        Category:English terms with quotations#WHICH

Etymology

From EnglishCategory:Cantonese terms derived from English#WHICH which (“non-restrictive relative clause marker”).

Pronunciation

This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

Category:Requests for pronunciation in Cantonese entries#WHICH

Conjunction

whichCategory:Chinese lemmas#WHICHCategory:Chinese conjunctions#WHICHCategory:Chinese entries with incorrect language header#WHICHCategory:Pages with entries#WHICHCategory:Pages with 4 entries#WHICH

1. (Hong Kong CantoneseCategory:Hong Kong Cantonese#WHICH) which; discourse marker introducing personal assessment or comment of the preceding clause

References

• Brian Hok-Shing Chan (2022), “Constructional Borrowing From English in Hong Kong Cantonese”, in Frontiers in Communication, volume 7, →DOI

Alternative forms

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

Etymology

From Old EnglishCategory:Middle English terms inherited from Old English#WHICHCategory:Middle English terms derived from Old English#WHICH hwelċ, from Proto-GermanicCategory:Middle English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic#WHICHCategory:Middle English terms derived from Proto-Germanic#WHICH *hwilīkaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hwit͡ʃ/Category:Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation#WHICH

Pronoun

whichCategory:Middle English lemmas#WHICHCategory:Middle English pronouns#WHICHCategory:Middle English entries with incorrect language header#WHICHCategory:Pages with entries#WHICHCategory:Pages with 4 entries#WHICH

1. which
   • 1407, The Testimony of William Thorpe, pages 40–41:

     And herfore of Wicleef speciali and of these men I toke the lore whiche I haue taughte and purpose to lyue aftir, if God wole, to my lyues ende.”

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

     Category:Middle English terms with quotations#WHICHCategory:Requests for translations of Middle English quotations#WHICH

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned

References

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

Pronoun

whichCategory:Yola lemmas#WHICHCategory:Yola pronouns#WHICHCategory:Yola entries with incorrect language header#WHICHCategory:Pages with entries#WHICHCategory:Pages with 4 entries#WHICH

1. alternative form of wich
   • 1867, “CASTEALE CUDDE'S LAMENTATION”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 2, page 102:

     Which maate mee hearth as coale as leed.

     Which made my heart as cold as lead.

     Category:Yola terms with quotations#WHICH

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828), 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, published 1867, page 102