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else

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else¹

  • /ɛls/ UK, US
  • /ɛlts/ colloquial

Rhymes with -ɛls

Where it comes from

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.

adjective

  1. not comparable, postpositional, used only with indefinite or interrogative pronouns Other; in addition to previously mentioned items. The instructor is busy. Can anyone else help me?

adverb

  1. not comparable Otherwise, if not. How else (= in what other way) can it be done?

    Similar: otherwise

conjunction

  1. For otherwise; or else. Then the Wronskian of f and g must be nonzero, else they could not be linearly independent.

Else²

Where it comes from

* 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.

proper noun

  1. A surname.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: other, additional, added, otherwise, elsewhere, also, besides, alternatively, then, yet, second, latest, last, more, different, differently

Translations

Every language

adj other

Españolmás
Portuguêsmais
Françaisd'autre
Deutschanders, sonst, anderer
Românăaltceva, altcineva
Русскийещё ješčó
العربيةغَيْر ḡayr, آخَر ʔāḵar

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

Españolmás, sino
日本語然も無くば samonakuba
Portuguêssenão, em vez de, além disso
Françaissinon, autrement
Deutschsonst, anders, andernfalls, ansonsten
Italianoaltro
Ελληνικάαλλιώς alliós
Русскийина́че ináče

conj for otherwise — see also or else

Españolsino
Portuguêssenão
Françaisautrement, sinon
Deutschandernfalls, ansonsten, sonst
العربيةوَإِلَا wa-ʔilā

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Cite this
MLA

"else." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/else. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

else. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/else

Chicago

"else." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/else.

BibTeX
@misc{else_2026,
  title = {else},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/else},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}