# which

Pronunciation: say "WICH" /wɪt͡ʃ/

## Pronoun

1. Used to introduce a relative clause about a thing (not a person) just mentioned, either identifying it or adding extra information.
   - Simple: Used to say more about a thing you have just named, as in 'the book which I read'.
   - _We stayed at the old inn, which has stood there for three centuries._
   - _The report, on the basis of which the plan was approved, has now been withdrawn._
3. Introducing a comment on a whole preceding clause or statement rather than on a noun.
   - Simple: Used after a comma to comment on the whole statement that came before.
   - _It rained all week, which is why the match was postponed._
   - _They refused to negotiate, which left us with no choice._
4. What one or ones out of a known or implied set, in a direct or indirect question.
   - Simple: Used without a noun to ask about one or more people or things from a known group.
   - _We have two flights to Denver to choose from; which would you rather take?_
   - _Of the three candidates, which did the committee choose?_
7. Whichever one or ones, or the one or ones that; now uncommon.
   - Simple: Used, mostly in older English, to mean whichever one or ones you like.

## Determiner

2. Used in questions to ask what one or ones of a set mentioned or implied.
   - Simple: Used before a noun to ask about one or more from a group already known.
   - _Which one is yours, the blue car or the gray one?_
   - _Ask her which platform the train leaves from._
5. Used in formal writing before a noun, in a relative clause, to refer back precisely to something just mentioned.
   - Simple: Used before a noun in formal writing to point back to something just mentioned.
   - _The deal was signed in March, by which point prices had already risen._
   - _The phones use a new chip, which fact the maker advertises loudly._
6. Whichever; any one or ones that, with the choice left free.
   - Simple: Used before a noun to mean any one that you choose.

## Conjunction

9. Used to join a clause to what comes before, where standard English would use 'and' or 'but'. *(nonstandard)*
   - Simple: Used in some casual speech to join two statements, roughly meaning 'and'.
   - _I told him to wait, which he went ahead anyway._
   - _She's from the same town as me, which we never actually met there._

## Pronoun

8. Used in older English to refer to a person in a relative clause, where 'who' or 'that' is now used. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: In old English writing, used to talk about a person where we now say 'who' or 'that'.

## Origin

Old English hwelċ ("which") became Middle English which. It goes back to Proto-Germanic *hwilīkaz, meaning "what kind" or literally "like what," a form built from a root meaning "who" plus "like." Scots whilk, Dutch welk, German welcher and Swedish vilken are related.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/which (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).