Neitherとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源

Alteration (after either) of nauther, from 中期英語 neiþer, from 古期英語 nāwþer, contraction of nāhwæþer, corresponding to no + whether. Compare Latin neuter (“neither”). By surface analysis, not +‎ either.

発音

• ハイフネーション: nei‧ther

enPR: nī′thə, nē′thə, 韻: -aɪðə(ɹ), -iːðə(ɹ)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈnaɪ.ðə/, /ˈniː.ðə/
• (General American) IPA: /ˈnaɪ.ðɚ/, /ˈni.ðɚ/

enPR: nā′thə(r)

• (Northern England) IPA: /ˈneɪ.ðə(ɹ)/ (rare: in use until the 20th c.)
• (South India) IPA: /nɛj.d̪ɐ(r)/

See the note about pronunciation in either.

限定詞

neither

1. Not one of two; not either; not one or the other.

   Neither definition seems correct.

   • 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:

     She was neither learned nor intelligent, but she contrived to dress both herself and her daughter out of a meagre jointure, supplying with her clever fingers what her purse could not buy; […] .

使用する際の注意点

See at either § Usage notes.

接続詞

neither

1. Not either (used with nor).

   Neither you nor I likes it.

   • 2025 June 19, Rami Kaminski, ““Otroverts” and why nonconformists often see what others can’t”, in Big Think‎:

     For most people, this sacrifice is made easily and instinctively. Not so for otroverts, who are neither willing nor able to passively adopt the social scripts that others do. To the otrovert, who is constantly engaged with the choices and consequences of their individual life, social norms follow a circular logic: […]

派生語

代名詞

neither

1. Not either one of two.

   I’ve tried on both shirts, but neither fits properly.

   Her words of advice will help neither of us.

使用する際の注意点

• According to traditional grammar, neither should always be construed as a singular (as in the example above). In practice, however, plural construction is often met with, especially when a specification with of follows: Neither of these shirts is / are clean.

副詞

neither (not comparable)

1. Similarly not.

   Just as you would not correct it, neither would I.

   Neither can she stop him, nor can he stop her.

   Neither now, nor ever will he forsake his mother.

   • 2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist‎, volume 407, number 8841, page 68:

     The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them […] is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies. […] current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate […] “stateless income”: profit subject to tax in a jurisdiction that is neither the location of the factors of production that generate the income nor where the parent firm is domiciled.

使用する際の注意点

• Neither is used to mean none of two or more. Although some suggest that using the word neither with more than two items is incorrect, it has been commonly used to refer to more than two subjects since the 17th century.

• Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. - inscription on James A. Farley Post Office Building, New York

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• There is considerable variation in the number of the verb employed with this construction.

• Examples:

• “That woman was neither a collector nor an art critic, but she understood the meaning I meant to give that work.” — Marcelle Ferron

• “Has anyone ever loved you so much that they tried to kill you, or perhaps sucked you down into a hole so that you had to kill them to get away? Yeah, me neither.” — Maynard James Keenan

• “You can make a lot of money in this game. Just ask my ex-wives. Both of them are so rich that neither of their husbands work.” — Lee Trevino

• “As if it were gold and could be neither good nor bad nor worth more nor worth less but must always be worth the same no matter what.” — Alex Miller

• “Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
  

Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat;

But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,

When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth!” — Rudyard Kipling

• “Neither you, Simon, nor the fifty thousand, nor the Romans, nor the Jews, nor Judas, nor the twelve, nor the priests, nor the scribes, nor doomed Jerusalem itself understand what power is, understand what glory is, understand at all.” — Jesus Christ Superstar

接続詞

neither

1. (archaic) Nor.
   • 1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 1:

     But here thou canst not handle aught, neither make the folk ware of thee, not though thou shout thy throat hoarse.

アナグラム

• etherin, Therien, therein, enherit, reineth