even

Meaning

Synonyms

well-distributed

make even

make smooth

not excepting

army intelligence

put in order

same time

so far as to

so much so that

still more

as many as

be flat

e’en

for all that

in balance

make equal

not so

round figures

yet again

if just

only thing needed

quite right

level the ground

be smooth

be level

flat and smooth

particle of affirmation

without ups and downs

on one level

skimcoat

flat ground

of them all

even more

even now

quietly-flowing

a match

inclusive of

Frequency

A1
Hyphenated as
e‧ven
Pronounced as (IPA)
/ˈiːvən/
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 West Frisian even (“even”), Low German even (“even”), Dutch even (“even, equal, same”), effen, German eben (“even, flat, level”), Danish jævn (“even, flat, smooth”), Swedish jämn (“even, level, smooth”), Icelandic jafn, jamn (“even, equal”), 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”).

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