even
Part of speech: adj
verb
adv
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: mathematics
sciences
Etymology: From Middle English even, from Old English efn (“flat; level, even, equal”), from Proto-West Germanic *ebn, from Proto-Germanic *ebnaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(h₁)em-no- (“equal, straight; flat, level, even”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian íeuwen (“even, flat”), West Frisian even (“even”), Alemannic German ëben (“even”), Cimbrian ébane (“even”), Dutch even (“even, equal, same”), effen (“leveled”), German eben (“even, flat, level”), Danish jævn (“even, flat, smooth”), Icelandic jafn (“even”), Norwegian Bokmål jevn (“even, smooth”), Norwegian Nynorsk jamn (“even, smooth”), Swedish jämn (“even, level, smooth”), Gothic 𐌹𐌱𐌽𐍃 (ibns, “even”), Old Cornish eun (“equal, right”) (attested in Vocabularium Cornicum eun-hinsic (“iustus, i. e., just”)), Old Breton eun (“equal, right”) (attested in Eutychius Glossary eunt (“aequus, i. e., equal”)), Middle Breton effn, Breton eeun, Sanskrit अम्नस् (amnás, “(adverb) just, just now; at once”).
The verb descends from Middle English evenen, from Old English efnan; the adverb from Middle English evene, from Old English efne.
The traditional proposal connecting the Germanic adjective with the root Proto-Indo-European *h₂eym- (Latin imāgō (“picture, image, likeness, copy”), Latin aemulus (“competitor, rival”), Sanskrit यम (yamá, “pair, twin”)) is problematic from a phonological point of view.
For the meaning development compare with Latin aequus (“equal, level, even, flat, horizontal”), Russian ро́вный (róvnyj, “even, level, flat, smooth”), ра́вный (rávnyj, “equal”), по́ровну (pórovnu, “in equal parts”).
Inflected forms:
form: evener
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: more even
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: evenest
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: most even
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: eben
pos: adj
tags: alternative
form: e'en
pos: adj
tags: alternative
form: evens
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: evening
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: evened
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: evened
pos: verb
tags: past
form: eben
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: e'en
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: eben
pos: adv
tags: alternative
form: e'en
pos: adv
tags: alternative
form: evens
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: eben
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: e'en
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: Flat and level.
pos: adj
examples: Clear out those rocks. The surface must be even.
gloss: Without great variation.
pos: adj
examples: Despite her fear, she spoke in an even voice.
gloss: Equal in proportion, quantity, size, etc.
pos: adj
examples: The distribution of food must be even.
Call it even.
gloss: Of an integer, divisible by two.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: Four, fourteen and forty are even numbers.
gloss: Of a number, convenient for rounding other numbers to; for example, ending in a zero.
pos: adj
tags: informal
examples: Coles. How many shares have you bought, Mr. Garfinkle?
Garfinkle. One hundred and ninety-six thousand.[…]
Jorgenson. […] How'd you figure out to buy such an odd amount? Why not two hundred thousand — nice even number. Thought you liked nice even numbers.
He put me on the scale in my underwear and socks: 82 pounds.[…] I left, humming all day long, remembering that once upon a time my ideal weight had been 84, and now I'd even beaten that. I decided 80 was a better number, a nice even number to be.
gloss: On equal monetary terms; neither owing nor being owed.
pos: adj
gloss: On equal terms of a moral sort; quits.
pos: adj
tags: colloquial
examples: You biffed me back at the barn, and I biffed you here—so now we're even.
gloss: Parallel; on a level; reaching the same limit.
pos: adj
examples: And shall lay thee even with the ground.
gloss: Without an irregularity, flaw, or blemish; pure.
pos: adj
tags: obsolete
examples: I know my life so even.
gloss: Associate; fellow; of the same condition.
pos: adj
tags: obsolete
examples: His even servant.
gloss: To make flat and level.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: We need to even this playing field; the west goal is too low.
This temple Xerxes evened with the soil.
[...] It will now be good to Beat, Roll, and Mow Carpet-walks, and Cammomile; for now the ground is ſupple, and it will even all inequalities: [...]
gloss: To equal or equate; to make the same.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: The Engliſh Earl [William Longespée the Younger], though he ſtood on the lower ground in point of birth, yet conceived himſelf to even him [Robert I, Count of Artois] in valour and martiall knowledge.
“But aside from that,” I continued, “what have I done that you should even me to dogs by such a supposition? I never yet failed a friend, and it’s not likely I’ll begin with you. There are things between us that I can never forget, even if you can.”
gloss: To be equal.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
obsolete
examples: Thrice nine evens twenty seven.
A redoubled numbering never eveneth with the first.
gloss: To place in an equal state, as to obligation, or in a state in which nothing is due on either side; to balance, as accounts; to make quits.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: We need to even the score.
Madam, the care I have had to even your
content I wish might be found in the calendar of my
past endeavours, for then we wound our modesty, and
make foul the clearness of our deservings, when of
ourselves we publish them.
gloss: To set right; to complete.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
gloss: To act up to; to keep pace with.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: Prithee away,
There's more to be considered: but we'll even
All that good time will give us.
gloss: Exactly; just; fully.
pos: adv
tags: archaic
not-comparable
examples: I fulfilled my instructions even as I had promised.
You are leaving tonight? — Even so.
This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you.
But on the occasion in question, those dents looked deeper, even as his nervous step that morning left a deeper mark.
gloss: In reality (used to imply an extreme example in the case mentioned).
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
examples: Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn sometimes.
Did you even make it through the front door?
That was before I was even born.
He used to drop into my chambers once in a while to smoke, and was first-rate company. When I gave a dinner there was generally a cover laid for him. I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me.
Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers,[…]. Even such a boat as the Mount Vernon offered a total deck space so cramped as to leave secrecy or privacy well out of the question, even had the motley and democratic assemblage of passengers been disposed to accord either.
He read the letter aloud. Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement.
Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia. The cheapest way to clear logged woodland is to burn it, producing an acrid cloud of foul white smoke that, carried by the wind, can cover hundreds, or even thousands, of square miles.
gloss: Used to emphasise a comparative.
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
examples: I was strong before, but now I am even stronger.
gloss: Used to indicate a further degree of comparison.
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
examples: Bob is taller than Alice, but Cameron is even taller than Bob.
gloss: Rather; that is (used to signal a correction of a previous utterance).
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
examples: My favorite actor is Jack Nicklaus. Jack Nicholson, even.
gloss: An even number.
pos: noun
tags: diminutive
examples: So let's see. There are two evens here and three odds.
Synonyms: level
uniform
monotone
on par
quits
square
match
precisely
Antonyms: uneven
odd
Derived words: all even
break even
break-even point
call it even
doubly even
draw even
even chance
even-Christian
even-down
evendown
even-even
even function
even hand at the tiller
evenhanded
even hand on the tiller
evenhood
even-interval
evenish
even keel
even-keeled
evenlike
evenly
even-minded
even money
evenness
even number
even-numbered
even-odd
even odds
even permutation
even-pinnate
even-steven
even-stevens
even-tempered
even-toed
even-weave
even working
get even
getting even
noneven
odd-even
of even date
singly even
threeven
uneven
even out
even the score
even up
can't even
don't even think about it
even a blind pig can find an acorn
even a blind pig can find an acorn once in a while
even a blind squirrel can find a nut once in a while
even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then
even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every once in a while
even as
even as we speak
even a worm will turn
even Homer nods
even if
even if one's life depended on it
even Jove nods
even more
even so
even still
even then
even though
get even or get even worse
I hardly even know her
it is not even funny
it isn't even funny
it's not even funny
not even
not even once
not even one
not even wrong
the ink was not even dry
what is this I don't even
Translations:
lang: Arabic
word: مُتَسَاوٍ
roman: mutasāwin
lang: Armenian
word: հավասար
roman: havasar
lang: Bashkir
word: тигеҙ
roman: tigeź
lang: Bulgarian
word: ра́вен
roman: ráven
lang: Catalan
word: igual
lang: Czech
word: rovný
lang: Dutch
word: gelijk
lang: Dutch
word: gelijkmatig
lang: Esperanto
word: egala
lang: Finnish
word: tasainen
lang: Finnish
word: tasasuhtainen
lang: Finnish
word: tasapuolinen
lang: Finnish
word: tasaväkinen
lang: French
word: régulier
lang: French
word: uniforme
lang: German
word: gleich
lang: Greek
word: ίσος
roman: ísos
lang: Greek
word: όμοιος
roman: ómoios
lang: Hebrew
word: שווה
roman: shavé
lang: Hindi
word: समान
roman: samān
lang: Hungarian
word: egyenlő
lang: Hungarian
word: igazságos
lang: Hungarian
word: méltányos
lang: Japanese
word: 等しい
roman: hitoshii
lang: Japanese
word: 同等
roman: dōtō
lang: Japanese
word: あいこ
roman: aiko
lang: Macedonian
word: рамен
roman: ramen
lang: Manchu
word: ᡨᡝᡴᠰᡳᠨ
roman: teksin
lang: Māori
word: tauriterite
lang: Māori
word: taurite
lang: Māori
word: ōrite
lang: Occitan
word: egal
lang: Occitan
word: pariu
lang: Occitan
word: parièr
lang: Polish
word: równy
lang: Portuguese
word: quite
lang: Romanian
word: egal
lang: Russian
word: ра́вный
roman: rávnyj
lang: Russian
word: одина́ковый
roman: odinákovyj
lang: Scottish Gaelic
word: cothromach
lang: Spanish
word: igual
lang: Spanish
word: parejo
lang: Turkish
word: eşit
lang: Vietnamese
word: bằng nhau