ever

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old English ǣfre, originally a phrase whose first element undoubtedly consists of Old English ā "ever, always" + in "in" + an element possibly from fēore (nominative feorh) "life, existence". Compare Old English ā tō fēore "ever in life", Old English feorhlīf (“life”).

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ˈɛvə/, SAMPA: /"Ev@/
• (GenAm) IPA: /ˈɛvɚ/, SAMPA: /"Ev@`/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛvə(r)
• Hyphenation: ev‧er

Adverb

ever (not comparable)

1. Always

   It was ever thus.

2. At any time.

   If that ever happens, we’re in deep trouble.

   He's back and better than ever.

3. In any way

   How can I ever get there in time.

4. As intensifier.

   Was I ever glad to see you!

   Did I ever!

Translations

Always

Bulgarian: винаги (bg) Croatian: uvijek (hr) Dutch: altijd (nl) Estonian: kunagi (et) French: toujours (fr) m. and f. pl. German: immer (de), stets (de) Greek: πάντα (el), πάντοτε (el)

Hungarian: mindig (hu) Norwegian: alltid (no), evig (no) Polish: zawsze (pl) Russian: всегда (ru) (vsegda) Spanish: siempre (es) West Frisian: jimmer (fy)

At any time

Basque: inoiz (eu), noizbait (eu) Bulgarian: когато и да е (bg) Croatian: u svako vrijeme (hr) Dutch: ooit (nl) Finnish: ikinä (fi) French: jamais (fr) German: jemals (de), je (de) Greek: ποτέ (el) Hungarian: bármikor (hu) Interlingua: jammais (ia), unquam (ia)

Latin: umquam (la) Norwegian: alltid (no), bestandig (no) Persian: همیشه (fa) Polish: kiedykolwiek (pl) Russian: когда-либо (ru) Scottish Gaelic: riamh (gd) Spanish: alguna vez, jamás (es) Swedish: någonsin (sv) West Frisian: ea (fy)

Derived terms

terms derived from ever

e’er everchanging everlasting everloving evermind ever-present ever since ever smoker ever so every forever, for ever, for ever more

for ever and ever, forever and ever happily ever after however never never ever whatever whatsoever whenever whichever whoever

Adjective

ever (not comparable)

1. (epidemiology) Occurring at any time, occurring even but once during a timespan.
   • 1965, Reuben Hill, The family and population control: a Puerto Rican experiment in social change

     This family empathy measure is highly related to ever use of birth control but not to any measure of continuous use.

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: young · place · give · #155: ever · saw · things · left

Anagrams

• veer

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Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *evur, from Proto-Germanic *eburaz.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

ever m. (plural evers, diminutive evertje)

1. wild boar

Synonyms

more and more

Anagrams

• erve, veer, vere, vree