else
/ɛls/ adjective, adverb, conjunction, proper noun
- adjective (postpositive, used only with indefinite or interrogative pronouns) Other; in addition to previously mentioned items. “The instructor is busy. Can anyone else help me?”
- adverb (usually follows interrogative adverbs) Otherwise, if not. “How else (= in what other way) can it be done?”
- conjunction For otherwise; or else. “Then the Wronskian of f and g must be nonzero, else they could not be linearly independent.”
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English ells, elles, from Old English elles (“other, otherwise, different”), from Proto-West Germanic *alljas, from Proto-Germanic *aljas (“of another, of something else”), genitive of *aljaz (“other”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂élyos, from *h₂el- (“other”).
Cognate with Old Frisian elles (“other”), Old High German elles, ellies (“other”), Danish eller (“or”), Danish ellers (“otherwise”), Swedish eljes, eljest (“or else, otherwise”), Norwegian elles (“else, otherwise”), Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌾𐌹𐍃 (aljis, “other”), Latin alius (“other, another”), Ancient Greek ἄλλος (állos), Arcadocypriot αἶλος (aîlos), modern Greek αλλιώς (alliós, “otherwise, else”), Proto-Slavic *olni.
* As an English surname, spelling variant of Ell.
* As a north German surname, of Low German origin, from Proto-West Germanic *aliʀu (“alder”), comparable to Dutch els.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Other; one or something beside; as, Who else is coming What else shall I give Do you expect anything else "Bastards and else." Shak.
- adverb Besides; except that mentioned; in addition; as, nowhere else; no one else.
- adverb Otherwise; in the other, or the contrary, case; if the facts were different.
Etymology [OE. & AS. elles otherwise, gen. sing. of an adj. signifying other; akin to OHG. elles otherwise, OSw. äljes, Sw. eljest, Goth. aljis, adj., other, L. alius, Gr. Alias, Alien.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “else”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details