any
pronunciation
How to pronounce any in British English:
UK [ˈeni]
How to pronounce any in American English:
US [ˈeni]
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- Adjective:
- (in negative statements) either every little or very great but unspecified
- one or some or every or all without specification
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- Adverb:
- to any degree or extent
Word Origin
- any
- any: [OE] Any is descended from a prehistoric Germanic compound meaning literally ‘one-y’ (a formation duplicated in unique, whose Latin source ūnicus was compounded of ūnus ‘one’ and the adjective suffix -icus). Germanic *ainigaz was formed from *ain- (source of English one) and the stem *-ig-, from which the English adjective suffix -y is ultimately derived. In Old English this had become ǣnig, which diversified in Middle English to any and eny; modern English any preserves the spelling of the former and the pronunciation of the latter.=> one
- any (adj.)
- Old English ænig "any, anyone," literally "one-y," from Proto-Germanic *ainagas (cognates: Old Saxon enig, Old Norse einigr, Old Frisian enich, Dutch enig, German einig), from PIE *oi-no- "one, unique" (see one). The -y may have diminutive force here. Emphatic form any old ______ (British variant: any bloody ______) is recorded from 1896. At any rate is recorded from 1847. Among the large family of compounds beginning with any-, anykyn "any kind" (c. 1300) did not survive, and Anywhen (1831) is rarely used, but OED calls it "common in Southern [British] dialects."
Example
- 1. You wouldn 't call any of them boyish .
- 2. Any recovery will take time .
- 3. Numbers could express almost any human activity .
- 4. For any economy , growing is all about selling .
- 5. Are you having any strange feelings ?