alike

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English alike, alyke, alyche, aleche, and earlier ilike, ilik, ylike, yliche, ylich, elik, ȝelic, from Old English ġelīċ (like; alike; similar; equal) and Old English onlīċ, anlīċ ("like; similar; equal"; > Middle English anlike, onlich (compare German ähnlich), reinforced by Old Norse álíkr, from Proto-West Germanic *galīk, from Proto-Germanic *galīkaz (alike, similar).

Cognate with Scots elyke, alyke (like, alike), Saterland Frisian gliek (like, alike), West Frisian lyk, gelyk (like, alike), Dutch gelijk (like, alike), German Low German liek, gliek (like, alike), German gleich (equal, like), Danish lig (alike), Swedish lik (like, similar), Norwegian lik (like, alike), Icelandic líkur (alike, like, similar). Equivalent to a- (Etymology 3) +‎ like. Compare also West Frisian allyk (all the same, alike).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (UK, US) IPA(key): /əˈlaɪk/
  • Rhymes: -aɪk
  • (file)

Adjective[edit]

alike (comparative more alike, superlative most alike)

  1. Having resemblance or similitude; similar; without difference.
    The twins were alike.
    • 1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, page 7:
      The wide prospect up stream was grey and lowering, the long still-distant waterfront of Dundee, and the Fife shore were alike colourless, and there was ample evidence of rough weather not far ahead.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Adverb[edit]

alike (comparative more alike, superlative most alike)

  1. In the same manner, form, or degree; in common; equally.
    We are all alike concerned in religion.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Yola[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English ylike, from Old English ġelīc, from Proto-West Germanic *galīk.

Adverb[edit]

alike

  1. alike
    • 1867, CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, line 9:
      and whilke we canna zei, albeit o' 'Governere,' 'Statesman,' an alike.
      and for which we have no words but of 'Governor,' 'Statesman,' &c.

References[edit]

  • Jacob Poole (1867), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, page 114