which
/wɪt͡ʃ/ determiner, pronoun, conjunction
Forms whiche wich
- determiner (interrogative) What, of those mentioned or implied. “Which song shall we play?”
- determiner The/Any ... that; whichever. “Take which one you want.”
- determiner (relative, formal outside certain phrases) Designates the one(s) previously mentioned. “He once owned a painting of the house, which painting would later be stolen.”
- pronoun (interrogative) What one or ones (of those mentioned or implied). “Which is which?”
- pronoun (not in common use) The/Any ones that; whichever. “Please take which you please.”
- pronoun Referring to a preceding noun. “I dropped a saucepan, which knocked over the eggs, which went all over the kitchen floor.”
- pronoun (chiefly archaic) 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.”
- pronoun Referring to a preceding statement. “The front door was open, which concerned me.”
- pronoun (relative, sometimes proscribed, see usage notes) In a restrictive relative clause, referring to a noun previously mentioned. “This is the letter which I received.”
- pronoun (chiefly archaic) Used of people.
- conjunction (colloquial, proscribed) Introduces an anacoluthon.
- conjunction (by extension, nonstandard) And. “They only offered me five dollars, which I wouldn’t do it for less than fifteen.”
Etymology
From Middle English which, hwic, wilche, hwilch, whilk, hwilc, from Old English hwelċ (“which”), from Proto-Germanic *hwilīkaz (“what kind”, literally “like what”), derived from *hwaz.
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”).
Webster’s 1913
- pronoun Of what sort or kind; what; what a; who. [Obs.]
- pronoun A interrogative pronoun, used both substantively and adjectively, and in direct and indirect questions, to ask for, or refer to, an individual person or thing among several of a class; as, which man is it which woman was it which is the house he asked which route he should take; which is best, to live or to die See the Note under What, pron., 1.
Etymology [OE. which, whilk, AS. hwilc, hwylc, hwelc, from the root of hwa who + lic body; hence properly, of what sort or kind; akin to OS. hwilik which, OFries. hwelik, D. welk, G. welch, OHG. welih, hwelih, Icel. hvilikr, Dan. & Sw. hvilken, Goth. hwileiks, hwleiks; cf. L. qualis. Who, and Like, a., and cf. Such.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “which”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details