• conj. 是否；不論
• pron. 兩個中的哪一個

來自古英語hwether,兩人中的一個，是否，hwe-,誰，-ther,比較級后綴，表加強(qiáng)，詞源同other,interior,exterior。引申義到底是誰，兩個中的誰，是否。詞義演變比較yesterday,day.

whether

whether: [OE] Whether was formed in the prehistoric Germanic period from the interrogative base *khwa-, *khwe- (source of English what, who, etc) and the comparative suffix *-theraz, which also occurs in English other. Its Germanic relatives include German weder ‘neither’ and Swedish hvar ‘each’. English either goes back to a Germanic compound formed from the ancestors of ay and whether.
=> either, other

whether (conj.)

Old English hw?eer, hweeer "which of two, whether," from Proto-Germanic *gihwatharaz (cognates Old Saxon hwedar, Old Norse hvarr, Gothic huatar, Old High German hwedar "which of the two," German weder "neither"), from interrogative base *khwa- "who" (see who) + comparative suffix *-theraz (cognate compounds in Sanskrit katarah, Avestan katara-, Greek poteros, Latin uter "which of the two, either of two," Lithuanian katras "which of the two," Old Church Slavonic koteru "which"). Its comparative form is either. Also in Old English as a pronoun and adjective. Phrase whether or not (also whether or no) recorded from 1650s.

1. The key issue was whether the four defendants acted dishonestly.

關(guān)鍵問題是4名被告是否存在欺詐行為。

來自柯林斯例句

2. It's not a case of whether anyone would notice or not.

這不是會不會有人注意到的問題。

來自柯林斯例句

3. Whether such properties are a good deal will depend on individual situations.

這樣的地產(chǎn)是否可獲得大筆收益還要視具體情形而定。

來自柯林斯例句

4. It remains to be seen whether her parliamentary colleagues will agree.

她的國會同僚是否同意，現(xiàn)在還無從知曉。

來自柯林斯例句

5. It was touch and go whether we'd go bankrupt.

我們是否會破產(chǎn)還很難說。

來自柯林斯例句