both
UK [bəʊθ] · US [boʊθ] determiner, pronoun, conjunction, proper noun
Forms bothe
- determiner Each of the two; one and the other; referring to two individuals or items. “Both (the/my) children are such dolls.”
- pronoun Each of the two, or of the two kinds. “Did you want this one or that one? ―Give me both.”
- conjunction Including both of (used with and).
- conjunction (obsolete) Including all of (used with and).
- proper noun A surname.
Etymology
From Middle English bothe, boþe, from Old English bā þā (“both the; both those”) and possibly reinforced by Old Norse báðir, from Proto-Germanic *bai. Cognate with Saterland Frisian bee (“both”), West Frisian beide (“both”), Dutch beide (“both”), German beide (“both”), Swedish både, båda, Danish både, Norwegian både, Icelandic báðir. Replaced Middle English bō, from Old English bā, a form of Old English bēġen. A remnant of the Indo-European dual grammatical number.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective The one and the other; the two; the pair, without exception of either.
- conjunction As well; not only; equally.
Etymology [OE. bothe, ba, fr. Icel. ba; akin to Dan. baade, Sw. båda, Goth. baj, OHG. beid, b, G. & D. beide, also AS. begen, ba, b, Goth. bai, and Gr. , L. ambo, Lith. abà, OSlav. oba, Skr. ubha. sq. root310. Cf. Amb-.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “both”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details