which.
What, of those mentioned or implied.
Meaning & usage
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.
He once owned a painting of the house, which painting would later be stolen.
She only speaks Chinese, which language I can hardly follow.
Where this word comes from
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”).
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.
In a non-restrictive relative clause, referring to something previously mentioned. 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.
In a non-restrictive relative clause, referring to something previously mentioned. Referring to a preceding noun. 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.
In a non-restrictive relative clause, referring to something previously mentioned. 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.
In a restrictive relative clause, referring to a noun previously mentioned. Used of people.
Where this word comes from
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”).
Introduces an anacoluthon.
And.
They only offered me five dollars, which I wouldn’t do it for less than fifteen.
Where this word comes from
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”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.