Etymograph

English

or

Or comes from Middle English or, contracted from other, from Old English āþor ‘either’, a contraction of āhwæþer; it was partly also influenced by Old English oþþe ‘or’.

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150āhwæþer1
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150āþor1‘either’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500other1
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500or1
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1897or1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English or
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1897, Winston Churchill: “No matter how early I came down, I would…”.

Lineage

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150āhwæþerWiktionary, English or
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150āþorWiktionary, English or‘either’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500otherWiktionary, English or
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500orWiktionary, English or
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1897orWiktionary, English or. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1897, Winston Churchill: “No matter how early I came down, I would…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with or, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Middle English or

Explore everything descended from āhwæþer →

Another origin of or

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂ews-‘to dawn, become light, become red’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂éws-o-mreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*auzom‘gold’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaurum‘gold’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400or‘gold (metal)’
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600or‘yellow’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500or‘gold’
  8. Englishtodayor

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Today it means

conj Connects at least two alternative words, phrases, clauses, sentences, etc., each of which could make a passage true.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “or”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Old English āhwæþer / or