Definitions for which
ʰwɪtʃ, wɪtʃwhich

Wiktionary(2.60 / 12 votes)Rate this definition:

1. which(Noun)

   An occurrence of the word which.

   Etymology: hwilc, from Proto-Germanic , the former being the stem of . Cognates include German welcher, Dutch welk and Old Norse hvílíkr.

2. which(Pronoun)

   Who; whom; what (of those mentioned or implied)

   Etymology: hwilc, from Proto-Germanic , the former being the stem of . Cognates include German welcher, Dutch welk and Old Norse hvílíkr.

Webster Dictionary(2.75 / 4 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Which(adj)

   of what sort or kind; what; what a; who

   Etymology: [OE. which, whilk, AS. hwilc, hwylc, hwelc, from the root of hw who + lc body; hence properly, of what sort or kind; akin to OS. hwilik which, OFries. hwelik, D. welk, G. welch, OHG. welh, hwelh, Icel. hvlkr, Dan. & Sw. hvilken, Goth. hwileiks, hwleiks; cf. L. qualis. . See Who, and Like, a., and cf. Such.]

2. Which(adj)

   a interrogative pronoun, used both substantively and adjectively, and in direct and indirect questions, to ask for, or refer to, an individual person or thing among several of a class; as, which man is it? which woman was it? which is the house? he asked which route he should take; which is best, to live or to die? See the Note under What, pron., 1

   Etymology: [OE. which, whilk, AS. hwilc, hwylc, hwelc, from the root of hw who + lc body; hence properly, of what sort or kind; akin to OS. hwilik which, OFries. hwelik, D. welk, G. welch, OHG. welh, hwelh, Icel. hvlkr, Dan. & Sw. hvilken, Goth. hwileiks, hwleiks; cf. L. qualis. . See Who, and Like, a., and cf. Such.]

3. Which

   a relative pronoun, used esp. in referring to an antecedent noun or clause, but sometimes with reference to what is specified or implied in a sentence, or to a following noun or clause (generally involving a reference, however, to something which has preceded). It is used in all numbers and genders, and was formerly used of persons

   Etymology: [OE. which, whilk, AS. hwilc, hwylc, hwelc, from the root of hw who + lc body; hence properly, of what sort or kind; akin to OS. hwilik which, OFries. hwelik, D. welk, G. welch, OHG. welh, hwelh, Icel. hvlkr, Dan. & Sw. hvilken, Goth. hwileiks, hwleiks; cf. L. qualis. . See Who, and Like, a., and cf. Such.]

4. Which

   a compound relative or indefinite pronoun, standing for any one which, whichever, that which, those which, the . . . which, and the like; as, take which you will

   Etymology: [OE. which, whilk, AS. hwilc, hwylc, hwelc, from the root of hw who + lc body; hence properly, of what sort or kind; akin to OS. hwilik which, OFries. hwelik, D. welk, G. welch, OHG. welh, hwelh, Icel. hvlkr, Dan. & Sw. hvilken, Goth. hwileiks, hwleiks; cf. L. qualis. . See Who, and Like, a., and cf. Such.]

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(3.50 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Which

   hwich, interrog. pron. what one of a number?—also used adjectively.—rel. pron. (obs.) who, whom: now used of things only.—prons. Whichev′er, Whichsoev′er, every one which: whether one or other.—(obs.) Which...he, who; Which...his, whose—surviving in the vulgar use of which as a mere introductory word; Which is which? which is the one, which is the other? a common phrase denoting inability to decide between two or more things.—The which (obs.), which. [A.S. hwilc, hwelc, from hwí, instrumental case of hwá, who, and líc, like; Goth. hwei-leiks, Ger. welch, welcher; L. qualis. Cf. Such and Each.]

Editors Contribution(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. which

   A relative pronoun.

   The company which released the new software were happy to open-source the code for it to be improved.

   Submitted by MaryC on April 8, 2020  

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'which' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #30

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'which' in Written Corpus Frequency: #80

How to pronounce which?

1. 

   Alex

   US English

   

   Daniel

   British

   

   Karen

   Australian

   

   Veena

   Indian

How to say which in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of which in Chaldean Numerology is: 2

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of which in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6

Examples of which in a Sentence

1. Kevin Ivers:

   The stakes are very high for Guaido and Leopoldo Lopez, now the regime has the authority to arrest and possibly kill them, which could be the end of what started in January, with Guaido's move to declare himself president.

2. Emanuele Rigamonti:

   Italian banks' valuations reached distressed levels in early February...which did not reflect accurately the underlying health of the Italian banking sector.

3. Keith Bannister:

   If we were to stand on the Moon and look down at the Earth with this precision, we would be able to tell not only which city the burst came from, but which postcode -- and even which city block.

4. Maria Mitchell:

   Karissa really identifies with Elsa because she knows what it's like to be different from everyone else, she doesn’t want to be seen as different, which has made her extremely determined to do things as well, if not better, than others.

5. Eliot Engel:

   Of course I'm concerned, oPIC and Ex-Im have always been Republican priorities, and now they've done a flip. It's the private sector supporting U.S. foreign policy with its own funds, which is everything that conservatives should want.

Images & Illustrations of which

Popularity rank by frequency of use