neither

WOTD – 11 May 2010    

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

Alteration (after either) of nauther, from Old English nawþer, contraction of nahwæþer, corresponding to no + whether.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈniː.ðə/, /ˈnaɪ.ðə/
• (US) IPA: /ˈni.ðɚ/, /ˈnaɪ.ðɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

  ,

  Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːðə(ɹ), -aɪðə(ɹ)

Determiner

neither

1. not one of two; not either

   Neither definition seems correct.

Translations

not one of two; not either

• Albanian: asnjë
• Bulgarian: нито един (bg) m (nito edin), никой (bg) m (nikoj)
• Czech: žádný (cs) m
• Dutch: geen van beide
• Finnish: ei kumpikaan (fi)
• French: aucun des deux
• Georgian: არცერთი (ka) (arc’ert’i)
• Hungarian: egyik sem (hu)

• Italian: né (it)
• Japanese: どちらも…ない (dochira mo … nai)
• Norwegian: ingen av (no)
• Polish: żaden (pl) m
• Portuguese: nenhum dos dois
• Russian: ни один (ru) (ni odín) , ни тот, ни другой (ru) (ni tot, ni drugój) 
• Serbian: niti, ni
• Swedish: ingendera (sv), ingen av (sv)

Pronoun

neither

1. not either one

   ... because neither is correct.

Translations

not either one

• Arabic: لا أحد (ar) (laa 'aHad)
• Bulgarian: нито един (bg) m (nito edin)
• Czech: žádný (cs) n
• Finnish: ei kumpikaan (fi)
• French: aucun (fr)
• Georgian: არცერთი (ka) (arc'ert'i) 
• German: keiner (de), keine (de), keines (de)
• Hindi: भी नहीं
• Hungarian: egyik sem (hu)
• Italian: né (it)

• Japanese: どちらも…ない (dochira mo …nai)
• Latvian: neviens (lv)
• Polish: żaden (pl)
• Portuguese: nenhum dos dois
• Russian: ни один (ru) (ni odín) , никто (ru) (niktó) , ничто (ru) (ničtó)  (read: ništo)
• Spanish: ninguno (es)
• Swedish: ingendera (sv), ingen av dem (sv)
• Ukrainian: жоден (uk) m (žoden)

Conjunction

neither

1. not either (used with nor)

   Neither you nor I like it.

   Neither now, nor ever will he forsake his mother.

Translations

not either (used with nor): neither X nor Y

• Arabic: لا... ولا... (ar) (laa... wa-laa)

  Egyptian Arabic: لا... ولا... (la .. wala ...)

• Aromanian: nitsi (rup)
• Bulgarian: нито X нито Y
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 也不 (cmn) (yěbù)

• Czech: ani X ani Y (cs)
• Danish: hverken (da)
• Dutch: noch X noch Y; X noch Y
• Esperanto: nek (eo)
• Finnish: ei X eikä Y
• French: ni X ni Y
• Friulian: ni, nančhe
• Georgian: არც (ka) (arc’)
• German: weder X noch Y

• Icelandic: hvorki X né Y (is)
• Japanese: XでもなくYでもない (X demonaku Y demonai), XもYも…ない (X mo Y mo …nai)
• Latin: nec X nec Y (la)
• Latvian: ne (lv)
• Norwegian: verken (no) X eller Y
• Polish: ani X, ani Y (pl)
• Portuguese: nem (pt) X nem Y
• Romanian: nici X nici Y
• Romansch: ni X ni Y
• Russian: (ни X ни X) (ni X ni X)
• Scottish Gaelic: aon chuid (gd), an dara cuid (gd)
• Spanish: ni (es) X ni Y
• Swedish: varken X eller Y; vare sig X eller Y (restricted to two options)
• Vietnamese: không X cũng không X

also not

• Breton: ivez
• Bulgarian: нито (bg) (nito)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 也不 (cmn) (yěbù)

• Finnish: -kaan (fi)
• Japanese: …も…ない (…mo …nai)

• Polish: też nie (pl)
• Portuguese: tampouco (pt)
• Russian: также не (ru) (tákže ne) 
• Scottish Gaelic: cha mhò (gd)
• Spanish: tampoco (es)
• Swedish: inte heller (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

• Italian: neanche, nemmeno

• Portuguese: nem

Adverb

neither (not comparable)

1. (conjunctive) similarly not

   Just as you would not correct it, neither would I.

Translations

similarly not

• Arabic: ولا (wala)
• Aromanian: nitsi (rup)
• Dalmatian: ne
• Dutch: ook niet, evenmin
• Finnish: eikä (fi), -kaan (fi)
• French: non plus
• Georgian: არც (ka) (arc') 

• Italian: né (it)
• Polish: też nie (pl)
• Portuguese: tampouco (pt)
• Romanian: nici (ro)
• Russian: также не (ru) (tákže ne) 
• Spanish: tampoco (es)

Usage notes

• Neither is used to mean none of two or more. Although some suggest that using the word neither with more than two items is incorrect, it has been commonly used to refer to more than two subjects since the 17th century. The more modern usage does prefer none with more than two things.

• There is considerable variation in the number of the verb employed with this construction.

• Examples:

• "That woman was neither a collector nor an art critic, but she understood the meaning I meant to give that work." — Marcelle Ferron

• "Has anyone ever loved you so much that they tried to kill you, or perhaps sucked you down into a hole so that you had to kill them to get away? Yeah, me neither." — Maynard James Keenan

• "You can make a lot of money in this game. Just ask my ex-wives. Both of them are so rich that neither of their husbands work." — Lee Trevino

• "As if it were gold and could be neither good nor bad nor worth more nor worth less but must always be worth the same no matter what." — Alex Miller

• "Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
  

Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat;

But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,

When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth!" — Rudyard Kipling

• "Neither you, Simon, nor the fifty thousand, nor the Romans, nor the Jews, nor Judas, nor the twelve, nor the priests, nor the scribes, nor doomed Jerusalem itself understand what power is, understand what glory is, understand at all." — Jesus Christ Superstar

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: longer · paid · art · #478: neither · suddenly · act · la

Anagrams

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