either

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“
And he never understands what I am trying to say in plain English either, which means he needs to buy himself a functioning brain.

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Definitions (16)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. pronoun The one or the other: Which movie do you want to see? Either will be fine.
  2. conjunction Used before the first of two or more coordinates or clauses linked by or: Either we go now or we remain here forever.
  3. adjective Any one of two; one or the other: Wear either coat.
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Examples (50)

  • Hy hadn't men­tioned the island's name either, and his guarded manner told me that something was going on here, possibly something illegal. —  Marcia Muller - [16] A Wild and Lonely Place
  • They followed Clarissa and Ned at a distance; it was questionable whether either was aware of their presence. —  A Lady of Expectations
  • They conversed in French, either together or with the landlord's son—who spoke their language, I found—on a variety of commonplace topics until we had passed Earlsfield and were fast approaching Wimbledon. —  With Zola in England
  • There are many Anglican churchgoers who might claim that a higher percentage of sermons that they hear are not in English either. —  Telegraph Blogs
  • Apparently there's nothing wrong with misspellings in Latin, either. —  TPN :: GDay World
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Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old English ǣther, ǣghwæther; see kwo- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English either, eyther, aither, ayther, ether, æither, also eyder, ayder, etc. (also contr. to er, as other to or), adjective, pron. indefinite and conjunction, from Anglo-Saxon æ¯gther, contr. of æ¯ghwæther (= OFries. eider, aider, orig. *aiehweder = Old High German *ēogahwedar, ēocahwedar, iogahwedar, iogiwedar, Middle High German iegeweder, MG. īquedir, īquedder), either, each, contr. of the orig. *ā-ge-hwæther, from ā-, ever, in comp. an indefinite prefix equivalent to modern English ever-, + ge-, generalizing prefix, + hwæther, pron., whether: see whether, pron. The forms interchange in Middle English, in both the pronominal and conjunctional use, with Middle English awther, auther, athir, owther, outher, other, contr. or (whence modern English or, the correlative of either, conjunction), from Anglo-Saxon āhwæther, contr. āwther, āuther, āthor (= OFries. ahwedder, auder, ouder = Dutch ieder = Middle Low German ieder, ider = Old High German ēohwedar, ēowedar, ioweder, Middle High German ieweder, iweder, ieder, German jeder), either, each, from ā-, ever, in comp. an indefinite prefix, + hwæther, pron., whether: this form being thus identical, with the exception of the prefix ge-, with the first form. Hence, with a negative prefixed, neither, q. v. The regular literary pronunciation of either, according to history and analogy, is ēŦHėr (and so neither, nēŦHėr); but the dialectal pronunciation āŦHėr, which preceded the present literary pronunciation ēŦHėr, and the pronunciation īŦHėr, which has now some currency even among educated persons, all have historical justification.
  2. from Middle English either, eyther, etc., awther, auther, other, etc., contr. also or, which now prevails as the second form in the correlation either … or. Hence, with a negative prefixed, neither, q. v. See either, adjective and pron.
 

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/ˈiðər/
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