Talk:other

Adverb?

I moved "other than" to adverb--that's what M-W says it is. But I'm not entirely happy with this, as it's more a definition of the phrase "other than" than of "other". Ortonmc 17:14, 12 Apr 2004 (UTC)

I'm not at all sure about the noun definition, "(the other) sex." I can't imagine saying "I am married to an other," and have "other" mean "woman". Perhaps I'm not understanding this—could someone clarify it, please? Ortonmc 17:14, 12 Apr 2004 (UTC)

This entry gives a pronunciation attributed to the American Heritage Dictionary. Isn't this against Wiktionary's copyright infringement policies? AndreasWittenstein 00:57, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

Missing sense

I think other can be synonymous to odd, as in first, third, fifth. As in,
other items in a set = {1,3,5,7,9},
other odd items in a set = {1,5,9}

I don't think this is included on the page, and if it is, then some example sentences would be appreciated. -- 124.171.138.193 04:51, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

I'm not going to pretend to understand mathmatics, but could not you say:

other items in a set = {0,2.4,6,8},
other even items in a set = {0,4,8}? Thryduulf (talk) 09:46, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps this is just an effort to assign meaning to a syntactic constituent of the idiomatic every other, sense 2. DCDuring TALK 10:19, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

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other

other#Adjective. AFAICT, this doesn't meet the tests for being an adjective in either of the senses given. See Wiktionary:English adjectives.

There may be a true adjective sense, but it would not be common in normal speech. Most uses are of other#Determiner. Many contributors are neither patient enough to read our full entry nor familiar with the concept of determiner. Thus, we can expect future contributors to add an adjective PoS unless we make special provision under the adjective PoS, such as as pseudo-sense: "See [[other#Determiner|other (determiner)]]." Rising Sun talk? contributions 21:33, 31 March 2010 (UTC)

A true adjective sense is something like "alien, different".

Only Macmillan, and Cambridge Adv Learner's, among OneLook dictionaries, use determiner for the main senses of other, as does Longman's DCE. Thus, we will be putting our users on the bleeding edge by emphasizing the determiner PoS. How can we have a prominent link to something helpful for users not familiar with "determiner"? I would like a PoS header link, though we only use that for the various abbreviation headers and seem to disprefer the practice. DCDuring TALK 10:38, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

I have made the changes to other#Adjective that would support this deletion, but not the changes at other#Determiner, which needs careful rewriting. DCDuring TALK 11:03, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

deleted -- Prince Kassad 17:33, 9 March 2011 (UTC)

DETERMINER: or other

or other ⇒ (preceded by a phrase or word with some) used to add vagueness to the preceding pronoun, noun, noun phrase, or adverb: some dog or other bit him, he's somewhere or other
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers

--Backinstadiums (talk) 16:23, 9 December 2019 (UTC)

As used in something or other --Backinstadiums (talk) 11:05, 25 June 2021 (UTC)

an other one vs another (one)

No other major dictionary uses the phrase an other one as does this entry; is it archaic enough to be replaced? Does it mean the same as "another (one)" --Backinstadiums (talk) 12:50, 11 December 2019 (UTC)

"An other one" is wrong. Equinox ◑ 12:51, 11 December 2019 (UTC)

@Equinox: what about just an other, which is used in nother? --Backinstadiums (talk) 18:00, 15 February 2020 (UTC)

As far as I know, in modern English it's always "another". The only exception I can imagine is in academic sociological texts where a person who is "othered" (marginalised) might be called "an other" or "the other". Equinox ◑ 18:01, 15 February 2020 (UTC)

@Equinox: btw, how come people do not use the template {reply to|}? how do you know otherwise that somebody has replied? --Backinstadiums (talk) 19:21, 15 February 2020 (UTC)

You can check your watchlist. There are a lot of templates and I find it hard to remember them all. I might start using that one day. Equinox ◑ 19:25, 15 February 2020 (UTC)

(not the one previously referred to): additional

Additional/extra and Different from that or those implied or specified should be two different meanings on their own --Backinstadiums (talk) 11:59, 19 July 2020 (UTC)

every other

Isn't every other sum of parts? --Backinstadiums (talk) 10:11, 28 July 2020 (UTC)

(Adjective) other: second --Backinstadiums (talk) 15:18, 20 June 2021 (UTC)

Adverb: In another way; otherwise; differently

The car performed other than perfectly. --Backinstadiums (talk) 16:12, 1 August 2020 (UTC)

Pronoun

1. A different or an additional person or thing: We'll get someone or other to replace him.
2. others People aside from oneself: "the eyes of others our prisons; their thoughts our cages" (Virginia Woolf).
--Backinstadiums (talk) 16:25, 1 August 2020 (UTC)

Adjective: former; earlier

sailing ships of other days --Backinstadiums (talk) 10:15, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

this, that and the other

what meaning is used in this, that and the other ? --Backinstadiums (talk) 12:01, 17 August 2020 (UTC)

other than

What's the difference between the adverb and other than? --Backinstadiums (talk) 15:24, 24 September 2020 (UTC)

“other” used to refer to the second of two people or things

(adjective, pronoun) the, my, your, etc. other used to refer to the second of two people or things
You must ask one or other of your parents

Traditionally, if there are 3 objects, one is the largest and another ("plural form", versus the dual ‘the other’) is the smallest. Then, why isn't the definite article, the, used in this example from the OALD? --Backinstadiums (talk) 20:03, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

Uninflected plural pronoun

Used as a pronoun, other was formerly often (and still occasionally) an uninflected plural
I know two other of his works —J. H. Newman, 1844 --Backinstadiums (talk) 12:53, 23 November 2020 (UTC)

Adverb “other (than)”

The entry of other in the Fowler's dictionary of usage reads

It never occurred to me ours would be other than a marriage in name only. Is other here an adjective linked to marriage or an adverb linked to be ? (The answer is a bit of both.)

Yet I do not really know what a bit of both exactly means. --Backinstadiums (talk) 13:43, 23 November 2020 (UTC)

The car performed other than perfectly. --Backinstadiums (talk) 12:17, 5 March 2021 (UTC)

No adjectival sense

Other is a determiner or pronoun; iL is not used exactly like an adjective. So it cannot normally have an adverb before it, or be used after a link verb: I’d prefer a completely different/*other colour. You look different/*other with a beard --Backinstadiums (talk) 09:56, 15 January 2021 (UTC)

no other

(archaic) nothing else: I can do no other --Backinstadiums (talk) 11:33, 22 April 2021 (UTC)

Noun: epitome of difference or an outgroup

Used with the (often Other): A person or thing considered to represent or epitomize difference or an outgroup --Backinstadiums (talk) 19:05, 1 July 2021 (UTC)

Adverb: Translations: apart from

Maybe, instead of providing a separate translation box, we should refer to the one in apart from? --Fytcha (talk) 16:46, 7 September 2021 (UTC)

RFV discussion: February–April 2022

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other

• (obsolete) Otherwise.
  • 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Reues Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC, folio xviii, recto, column 1, line 5:

    […] it ſhal none other be.

    (please add an English translation of this quotation)

  • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], page 331, column 1:

    If you thinke other, […]

Tagged by Astova, not listed (“Chaucer (which was used to cite this but got moved to proper entry) is Middle English (enm)”). J3133 (talk) 21:06, 19 February 2022 (UTC)

I'm practically certain this is attested after 1500, but it's impossible to search for. To make matters worse, OED does not distinguish this sense from the adverbial use of other than (for instance, "It is inconvenient to transcribe other than linearly"), and all of its post-1500 quotes are for other than. Century only has another Shakespeare quote, Webster has our two quotes, and Johnson doesn't have this at all. Where else would one look? This, that and the other (talk) 11:59, 8 April 2022 (UTC)

I am not completely confident, but I think I may have cited this. Kiwima (talk) 22:16, 15 April 2022 (UTC)

Nice work! The Shakespeare and the 1740 cite are good, and the 1655 one looks fine too, although I have a little trouble understanding it. The 1545 cite is probably the correlative other...other, equivalent to modern either...or, a sense that is missing from our entry. This, that and the other (talk) 02:17, 17 April 2022 (UTC)

RFV-passed This, that and the other (talk) 02:15, 24 April 2022 (UTC)