Everyone

Part of speech: pronoun

Pronunciation: /ˈɛv.ɹi.wʌn/

Definitions

1. All people in a group or in the world without exception
2. All individuals within a particular community or society regarded collectively
3. Every person present in a specified setting or considered as a whole

Etymology: Everyone began as a fusion of two older words that once meant something quite different in English. Its earliest form was "everychone" (Middle English "everichon"), built from "every" and "chon," an older form of "each" that had grown out of "ich" plus "one." Speakers gradually wore down the pieces, so "everychone" became "everyone," and the two halves merged into a single word. The sense was always about the whole group, but the older compound showed its parts more openly. Because the word is a compound of "every" and "one," its surface analysis is straightforward, yet the older form reveals that "each" was once folded into it as well. In that earlier phrasing, the speaker was in effect stacking "every" and "each" together to emphasise that no individual in the group was left out, which is why the word still carries that sense of totality.

Synonyms: everybody, all

Antonyms: nobody, no one