which
/wɪt͡ʃ/
which determiner: what, of those mentioned or implied.
Determiner
which
- What, of those mentioned or implied.
- Which song shall we play?
- They couldn't decide which song to play.
- The/Any ... that; whichever.
- Take which one you want.
- You may go which way you please.
- Designates the one(s) previously mentioned.
- After glaring upon the smoking philosopher, who took his misfortunes with such positive nonchalance, he growled out an oath in German, which language is particularly adapted for growling in; then, raising his hand, he dealt him a blow on his pipe, which sent it, like a rocket, into the midst of the...1860, Alfred Henry Forrester, Fairy footsteps, or, Lessons from legends, with illustr., by Alfred Crowquill, page 166 (Google Books view)
- Whitaker’s blog post, housed on a website called Minutes Before Six, goes on to make references to Albert Camus’ 1947 classic, The Plague, dips into a Camus-inspired existential ramble and returns to an attempt to convey the detail of Prieto’s being essentially “noble,” which fact, he admits, will...2015 January 21, Texas Public Radio, “Voices From Death Row: A Prisoner Writes An Ode To ‘Living Dyingly’”, in Texas Public Radio
Pronoun
which
- What one or ones (of those mentioned or implied).
- Which is which?
- By now, you must surely know which is which.
- The/Any ones that; whichever.
- Please take which you please.
- Referring to a preceding noun.
- I dropped a saucepan, which knocked over the eggs, which went all over the kitchen floor.
- I found my camera, which I thought I'd lost, under the bed.
- Used of people (now generally who, whom, that; which remains possible with words also referred to by it such as baby, child).
- She had a young child, which cried incessantly.
- Referring to a preceding statement.
- The front door was open, which concerned me.
- He had to leave, which was very difficult.
- In a restrictive relative clause, referring to a noun previously mentioned.
- This is the letter which I received.
- This is the letter in which he explains his decision.
- Used of people.
- The men which acompanyed him on his waye stode amased, for they herde a voyce, butt sawe no man.1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts
Conjunction
which
- Introduces an anacoluthon.
- We didn’t find any strips of skin. Which, by the way, ughhh!2002 October 8, Jane Espenson, “Same Time, Same Place”, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, season 7, episode 3, spoken by Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendon), Los Angeles, Calif.: UPN
- Scientists have discovered the bones of a three-foot-tall, 15-pound parrot that lived some 16 million years ago. The remains had initially been misidentified as those of an “enormous, possibly human-eating eagle,” which … yikes.2019 August 9, Oliver Roeder, “Significant Digits For Friday, Aug. 9, 2019”, in FiveThirtyEight, New York, N.Y.: ABC News, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 Aug 2019
- And.
- They only offered me five dollars, which I wouldn’t do it for less than fifteen.
- “Just leave them under the seat, okay,” she says, knowing that in all likelihood I won’t be able to leave this party. This house. This neighborhood. That it’s possible I won’t even open the driver’s side door. Yet she’s doing this anyway. Which, maybe that’s her point.2020 September 22, Justin A. Reynolds, chapter 92, in Early Departures, New York, N.Y.: Katherine Tegen Books, →ISBN
which meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Telugu
which in Hindi
- (interrogative) what, of those mentioned or implied
- कौनसा kaunsā
- (relative) who, whom, what
- जो jo
which in Tamil
- (interrogative) what, of those mentioned or implied
- எந்த enta
- (interrogative) what one or ones
- எது etu
which in Urdu
- (interrogative) what, of those mentioned or implied
- کَون سا kaun sā, کَونْسا kaunsā
- (relative) who, whom, what
- جو jo
which in Telugu
- (interrogative) what, of those mentioned or implied
- ఏ ē
- (interrogative) what one or ones
- ఏ ē
More languagesFewer languages
- which in Malayalam
- ഏത് ētŭ
- which in Tagalog
- alin
- which in Arabic
- أَيّ ʔayy, مَما mama, اَلَّذِي allaḏī
- which in Malay
- mana, yang, yang mana
- which in Indonesian
- yang mana, yang
- which in Persian
- کدام kodâm, که ke
- which in Thai
- ไหน nǎi, ที่ tîi, ซึ่ง sʉ̂ng
- which in Vietnamese
- nào
- which in Myanmar
- ဘယ် bhai
Examples of which in a sentence
- Which one is bigger?
- Show me which one is bigger.
- He once owned a painting of the house, which painting would later be stolen.
- She only speaks Chinese, which language I can hardly follow.
- 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.
Forms of which
| alternative Jamaica | wich |
|---|---|
| alternative form (obsolete) | whiche |
Origin of which
From Middle English which, hwic, wilche, hwilch, whilk, hwilc, from Old English hwelċ (“which”), from Proto-Germanic *hwilīkaz (“what kind”, literally “like what”), derived from *hwaz. Cognates include Scots whilk (“which”), West Frisian hokker (“which”), Dutch welk (“which”), Low German welk (“which”), German welcher (“which”), Danish hvilken (“which”), Swedish vilken (“which”), Norwegian hvilken (“which”), Icelandic hvílíkur (“which”).
Words formed from which
Phrases with which
- any which way
- in virtue of which
- which line goes to
- you and which army
- knew which end is up
- know which end is up
- know which way is up
- known which end is up
- knows which end is up
- knowing which end is up
- which foot the shoe is on
- not know which way to jump
28 more phrasesFewer phrases
- not know which way to turn
- see which way the cat jumps
- September which never ended
- saw which way the cat jumped
- sees which way the cat jumps
- seen which way the cat jumped
- which way the wind is blowing
- seeing which way the cat jumps
- peace which passes understanding
- peace which passeth understanding
- peace which passes all understanding
- peace which passeth all understanding
- a straw shows which way the wind blows
- know which side of the bread is buttered
- that which has been seen cannot be unseen
- knew which side one's bread is buttered on
- know on which side one's bread is buttered
- know which side of one's bread is buttered
- know which side one's bread is buttered on
- knew which side one's bread was buttered on
- known which side one's bread is buttered on
- knows which side one's bread is buttered on
- known which side one's bread was buttered on
- knowing which side one's bread is buttered on
- that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger
- render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's
- you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows
- wish in one hand and shit in the other, and see which one fills up first
Words that rhyme with which
25 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about which
- What does which mean?
- Which means what, of those mentioned or implied.
- What is which in Hindi?
- Which in Hindi is कौनसा (kaunsā), जो (jo). See Which meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use which in a sentence?
- Which one is bigger?
- What part of speech is which?
- Which can be a determiner, a pronoun or a conjunction.
- How do you pronounce which?
- Which is pronounced /wɪt͡ʃ/.
Words near which in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: which (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-which.ogg, En-uk-which.ogg.
Cite this entry: “which.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/which. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.