else

See also Else

English

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old English elles (“other, otherwise, different”), from Proto-Germanic *aljas "of another, of something else", genitive of *aljaz (“other”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂elios, *al- (“other”, pronoun). 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), αἶλος (Arcadocypriot), (Modern Greek αλλιώς (alliṓs, “otherwise, else”)).

Pronunciation

• (RP, US) IPA: /ɛls/, sometimes IPA: /ɛlts/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛls

Adjective

else (not comparable)

1. Other; in addition to previously mentioned items.

   Can anyone else (=any other person) help me?

   What else (=what other thing) is there?

Usage notes

• This adjective usually follows an indefinite or interrogative pronoun, as in the examples above. In other cases, the adjective other is typically used.

Derived terms

Terms derived from the adjective else

anybody else anyone else anyplace else anything else anywhere else elsewhere elsewhither everybody else everyone else everyplace else everything else

everwhere else nobody else no one else no place else nothing else nowhere else somebody else someone else someplace else something else somewhere else what else is new

Translations

other

Czech: jiný (cs), ostatní (cs) Finnish: muu (fi)

Russian: ещё (ru) (ješčó) Swedish: annat (sv) (things)

Adverb

else (not comparable)

1. Otherwise, if not.

   How else (=in what other way) can it be done?

   I'm busy Friday; when else (=what other time) works for you?

Usage notes

• (otherwise): This word frequently follows interrogative adverbs, such as how, why, and when, as well as the derived however, why ever, and whenever.

Synonyms

• otherwise

Derived terms

• or else

Translations

word that implies any result with the exception of the one being referred to

Bulgarian: иначе, освен това (bg) Danish: ellers (da) Dutch: zoniet, anders, in het andere geval Finnish: muuten (fi), muutoin (fi) French: sinon (fr), autrement (fr) Georgian: სხვანაირად (ka) (sxvanairad), სხვაგვარად (ka) (sxvagvarad)

German: sonst (de), anders (de), andernfalls (de), ansonsten (de) Greek: αλλιώς (el) (alliós) Italian: altro (it) Portuguese: senão (pt), em vez de (pt), além disso (pt) Russian: иначе (ru) (ináče, ínače) Swedish: annars (sv)

statement in computing that indicates the result of a conditional statement (if) evaluating as false

Bulgarian: иначе (bg) Finnish: muuten (fi) German: else (de), sonst (de) Greek: αλλιώς (el) (alliós)

Italian: altrimenti (it) Portuguese: senão (pt) Swedish: annars (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

French: sinon, autrement Serbo-Croatian: u suprotnom Spanish: sino Swedish: annan (person), annars

Conjunction

else

1. For otherwise; or else.

   Then the Wronskian of f and g must be nonzero, else they could not be linearly independent.

2. (computing, in many programming languages and pseudocode) but if the condition of the previous if clause is false, do the following.

   if (edits.Count == 0) { NoEditsLabel.Visible = true; }

   else { EditHistory.Show(edits); }

See also

• and
• if
• not
• or
• then

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: stand · past · suppose · #503: else · entered · none · river

Anagrams

• eels, lees, lese, seel, sele

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Italian

Noun

else f.

1. Plural form of elsa.

Anagrams

• lese