# neither

Pronunciation: US say "NY-thur" /ˈnaɪ.ðɚ/; UK/AUS say "NY-thuh" /ˈnaɪ.ðə/

## Conjunction

1. Used together with 'nor' to indicate that two alternatives are both excluded or untrue.
   - Simple: Used with 'nor' to join two choices and say both are not true.
   - _Neither the manager nor her assistant knew where the missing files had gone._
   - _The new policy neither raised wages nor reduced the working hours._

## Pronoun

2. Not the one and not the other of two, used on its own in place of a noun, often followed by "of" (neither of them).
   - Simple: Not one of two people or things, and not the other one.
   - _Both routes were flooded, so neither was safe to drive._
   - _The committee reviewed two designs and approved neither._

## Determiner

3. Not one and not the other of two people or things; not either of a pair.
   - Simple: Not one and not the other, when there are two.
   - _Neither candidate received enough votes to win the seat outright._
   - _We toured two apartments on Saturday, but neither place had enough room for the piano._

## Adverb

4. Used to show that a preceding negative statement applies equally to another person or thing.
   - Simple: Used to add that something is also not true, after another negative.
   - _The senior staff received no warning, and neither did the new hires._
   - _If she won't sign the agreement, then neither will her business partner._

## Conjunction

5. Used in place of 'nor' to add a further negative statement, now found mainly in older or literary English. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Used like 'nor' to add another negative point in older writing.
   - _The old squire would not yield his land, neither would he hear any talk of selling._
   - _They had no bread, neither had they wine to share with the weary travelers._

## Origin

It goes back to Old English 'nāwþer', a shortened form of 'nāhwæþer' (that is, 'no' + 'whether'), which gave Middle English 'nauther'; that form was reshaped to match 'either', giving 'neiþer'. Latin 'neuter' ('neither') is comparable, and on the surface the word reads as 'not' + 'either'.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/neither (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).