Other
determinerUsed to refer to a person or thing that is different from or additional to one already mentioned.
How to spell other
5 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce other
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does other mean?
- determinerUsed to refer to a person or thing that is different from or additional to one already mentioned.
Other in a sentence
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Try the other door, this one is stuck.
-
I'll take the other slice, thanks.
Where does other come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
The word comes from the Old English oþer, which meant 'second' or 'the remaining one of two', and it traces back to a shared Germanic ancestor that also produced the Dutch 'ander' and the German 'andere'. Linguists connect it further to a very old Indo-European root meaning 'one of two' or 'the second', so the original sense was strongly tied to twos and pairs rather than to anything generally different. Over the medieval period the meaning broadened from 'the second of two' to 'not this one' and then to the loose modern sense of 'additional' or 'different'. The 'th' in the middle reflects the Old English letter þ (thorn), which is why the modern spelling keeps a 'th' even though many speakers barely notice it. Because the word is so ancient and so common, its spelling has stayed remarkably stable for over a thousand years.
How the word is built
- oth- (from Old English oþer: second, the remaining one)
- -er (comparative/adjectival ending)
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