Which

How to spell which

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce which

What does which mean?

1. determinerUsed to ask about or specify one or more items from a known or limited set.

Which in a sentence

• Which option do you prefer?

• I can't decide which jumper to wear.

Where does which come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is one of the oldest words in English, descending from the Old English hwilc, which meant 'which' or 'of what kind'. It was formed from the same interrogative root that gives us 'who', 'what' and 'why', combined with an element meaning 'form' or 'like', so the original sense was roughly 'of what shape or sort'. The 'wh' spelling reflects an old pronunciation in which the 'h' came first, written 'hw' in Old English; many speakers once said it as a breathy 'hw', and that order is why the silent 'h' still trails the 'w' on the page. It shares its ancestry with German 'welch' and is closely tied to its frequent partner 'what'. The spelling trap is purely that silent 'h' tucked after the 'w', which writers in a hurry often drop, and the temptation to confuse it with the homophone 'witch'.

How the word is built

• hwilc (Old English: which, of what kind), from hwi (interrogative stem)
• lic (form, body, like)

Words that sound like which

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• witch: A woman believed to have magical powers, especially one who casts spells.