All

Part of speech: adjective, pronoun

Pronunciation: /ɔːl/

Definitions

1. Every one of something, or the entire amount or extent of something
2. Including every individual or element without leaving any out
3. Comprising the entirety of a group or quantity without omission

Etymology: Old English had no single word for "everything" the way modern speakers do, and the word "all" is one of the oldest and most widely shared in the Germanic family. Its cognates run through Scots, Frisian, Dutch, German, Danish, Swedish and Gothic, where "alls" appears as an early attestation of the same word. Gothic is the oldest of these recorded languages, which places the word's roots far back in the Germanic past. The Celtic languages show a parallel form: Welsh and Breton "holl" and Cornish "oll" all mean "all," as do Irish and Scottish Gaelic words such as "uile." Whether the two families share a common ancestor for these words or whether the resemblance is coincidental is uncertain, and the origin of the Germanic form itself is not firmly established. Within English, the word has also developed uses that go beyond its basic sense. Phrases such as "who all" and "where all" follow a pattern found in German "alles," and in some dialects "all" can mean "gone" or "used up," as in "the milk is all."

Synonyms: every, entire, whole

Antonyms: none, some