which

which - English

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • enPR: wĭch, IPA: /wɪt͡ʃ/
  • (without the wine–whine merger) enPR: hwĭch, IPA: /ʍɪt͡ʃ/
  • Homophones: witch, wich, wych (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

Determiner

which

  1. (interrogative) What, of those mentioned or implied.
    • Which song shall we play?
    • They couldn't decide which song to play.
    • Which one is bigger?
    • Show me which one is bigger.
  2. The/Any ... that; whichever.
    • You may go which way you please.
  3. (relative, formal outside certain phrases) Designates the one(s) previously mentioned.
    • He once owned a painting of the house, which painting would later be stolen.
    • Yesterday, I met three men with long beards, which men I remember vividly.
    • For several seconds he sat in silence, during which time the tea and sandwiches arrived.
    • I'm thinking of getting a new car, in which case I'd get a red one.

Usage notes

In cases where both "which" and "what" are possible, with similar meaning, "which" is preferred for choices from a closed group or set, while "what" is preferred for open-ended choices. For example, "Which one of these do you want?" not "What one of these do you want?".

Translations

Pronoun

which

  1. (interrogative) What one or ones (of those mentioned or implied).
    • Which is which?
    • By now, you must surely know which is which.
    • Which is bigger, the red one or the blue one?
    • I'm unable to determine which is bigger.
    • Which of these do you want to keep?
  2. The/Any ones that; whichever.
    • Please take which you please.
  3. (relative) Introduces a relative clause giving further information about something previously mentioned.
    • He walked by a door with a sign, which read: PRIVATE OFFICE.
    • I found my camera, which I thought I'd lost, under the bed.
    • No art can be properly understood apart from the culture of which it is a part.
    • He had to leave, which was very difficult.
  4. (relative, chiefly archaic) Used of people (now generally who, whom, that; which remains possible with words also referred to by it like baby, child).

Usage notes

  • (US usage) Some authorities insist that relative which be used only in non-restrictive clauses. For restrictive clauses (e.g., The song that you just mentioned is better than the later ones), they prefer that. But Fowler, who proposed the rule, himself acknowledged that it was "not the practice of most or of the best writers". Even E. B. White, a notorious "which-hunter", wrote this: "the premature expiration of a pig is, I soon discovered, a departure which the community marks solemnly on its calendar." In modern UK usage, The song which you just mentioned is better than the later ones is generally accepted without question.
  • As a relative pronoun, which (not that) is used when the relative clause is non-restrictive (e.g., "I saw Tom's car, which was parked outside his house") or when it is the object of a preposition placed in front of the pronoun (e.g., "These are the things about which we shall talk", "There were many fish, the biggest of which...").
  • When which (or the other relative pronouns who and that) is used as the subject of a relative clause, the verb agrees with the antecedent of the pronoun. Thus, "the thing which is...", "the things which are...", etc.
  • Which is commonly used, sometimes with partitive of, instead of who (the ordinary interrogative pronoun, in the nominative singular or plural) to refer to a person or persons, and corresponding to what of things. Compare "which of us always uses who for people" and "who among us has never used which for a person". Neither "who of us" nor "which among us" is idiomatic.

Derived terms

Translations

  • Akkadian: 𒊭 (ša)
  • Arabic: اَلَّذِي (ar) m (allaḏī)
  • Armenian: որ (hy) (or), որը (hy) (orə)
  • Belarusian: які́ m (jakí)
  • Catalan: que (ca), el qual, cosa que
  • Chinese:
  • Czech: který (cs)
  • Danish: hvis (da)
  • Dutch: die (nl), dat (nl)
  • Esperanto: kiu (eo), kiuj (eo)
  • Finnish: joka (fi)
  • French: qui (fr) (referring to the subject); que (fr) (referring to the object)
  • Galician: que (gl)
  • Georgian: რაც (rac)
  • German: der (de) m, welcher (de) m, was (de) (referring back to a clause)
  • Hebrew: אשר (he), ש-
  • Hindi: जो (hi) (jo)
  • Hungarian: amelyik (hu)
  • Ido: qua (io)
  • Indonesian: yang (id)
  • Interlingua: qual
  • Irish: a (ga), (referring back to a clause)
  • Italian: che (it), cui (it)
  • Japanese: ...の (ja) (... no)
  • Khmer: ដែល (km) (dael)
  • Kurdish:
    • Central Kurdish: کەوا (ckb) (kewa)
  • Latin: qui (la)
  • Norwegian: som (no)
  • Persian: که (fa) (ke), -ی که (-i ke)
  • Polish: który (pl) m
  • Portuguese: que (pt)
  • Rapa Nui: aha
  • Romanian: care (ro), ce (ro)
  • Russian: кото́рый (ru) m (kotóryj)
  • Scots: whilk
  • Slovak: ktorý (sk) m
  • Slovene: ki (sl)
  • Spanish: quien (es) (if a person), que (es)
  • Swedish: som (sv), vilken (sv) c, vilket (sv) n, vilka (sv) pl
  • Talysh:
    • Asalemi: -ی کی (-i ki)
  • Thai: ซึ่ง (th) (sʉ̂ng)
  • Ukrainian: котри́й (kotrýj), яки́й (uk) (jakýj)
  • Urdu: جو (jo)
  • Welsh: sydd, sy, a (cy), y (cy)
  • West Frisian: dy't

which - Middle English

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ʍit͡ʃ/

Pronoun

which

  1. which

Descendants

which - Yola

Pronoun

which

  1. Alternative form of wich
Meaning and Definition of which
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