Should I say 'ee-ther' or 'ai-ther' (either)?

I'll skip the jokes and say that I alternate between the two pronunciations regularly myself. There's no right answer.

I honestly think I say “ee-ther one” and “ai-ther way.” I’m not even sure now!!!

Let's call the whole thing off 🎶 (do whichever feels most comfortable to you. Heck change it up, I definitely say both)

Both are correct. I personally say both and switch between them depending on what sounds more natural to me in the moment. I can't really think of a sentence where they wouldn't be interchangeable.

Ee-ther is more common in America. Eye-ther is more common everywhere else. Using said that, I use both. Ee-ther being more common, eye-ther for more emphasis.

I personally say eye-ther, but nee-ther 🤷‍♂️ Doesn’t really matter

Both are fine and I definitely use both but I would say it leans towards eye-ther being more traditionally used in the UK while ee-ther is used in the US A great example of this is on the live action Beauty and the Beast soundtrack. Emma Thompson sings “(n)eye-ther” while John Legend (in the version for the credits) sings “(n)ee-ther”.

I use both pronunciations with regularity.

I say both. Depends on my mood

I only say 'ee-ther'. Somehow I have never noticed anyone pronouncing it 'ai-ther' in the U.S. These comments of using both surprise me, as I've lived in the southeastern, northeastern, midwestern states and in the Plains 🤷

Everyone has already covered “either one is correct” (and they’re right about that), so I’ll just say anecdotally that as a native speaker in the US i feel like I hear “ee-ther” a lot more than “ai-ther.” Neither sounds wrong or strange to me, but I think ee-ther is the default where I am (to the extent that there is a default to one over the other)

Ee-ther, ai-ther... whatever

Either either or either will do

I use both and I have no idea of there's any rhyme or reason to it.

Also, consider that this applies to “neither” too! However, in that case I anecdotally would say that I hear “nee-ther” much more often (I live in southeast US).

There is a song about this.

As others have said, they are both acceptable. I've used both and change it up based on my mood. The important things to note (according to Fred Astaire) is that if I say either, and you say either, "let's just call the whole thing off." You can listen to the song on youtube. [https://youtu.be/LOILZ\_D3aRg?si=UyYi2kETdE77XObm](https://youtu.be/LOILZ_D3aRg?si=UyYi2kETdE77XObm)

Say “ee-ther.” It’s used in many more accents/dialects. It’s not a big deal which you choose, but because you’re looking for advice on which to say, “ee-ther” will sound more natural.

Oh, you can use ay-ther

Mee neether My nyther

I say ‘ee-ther’ (either) and ‘nai-ther’ (neither)

I actually switch back and forth myself and don't know why. Everyone will know what you're saying no matter which one you choose.

I default to eye-ther.

I use them interchangeably. I suspect there's probably a pattern as to which one I choose at any given moment, but I don't know what the pattern is.

Both are correct. I actually say both depending on the sentence (it's not conscious, just something I have noticed about my natural speech)

I don't think I've ever met anyone who cares one way or the other. Anybody who *does* care is probably so pretentious about the language that nobody really likes them, anyway.

Same it's a weird one right? Not 'regional' because for some reason I initially read this as a native English speaker and in my head said 'Ai-ther option works - and I don't have a preference for ee-ther'. But then I considered further and realised I'd have said 'i don't have a preference 'ai-ther' way... Or mostly have used 'ee-ther's fine' if asked informally. I am now questioning life.

They are absolutely interchangeable. No rules apply for either (or either) pronunciation, and there are no geographical biases.

Ee-ther is more American and ai-ther is more British.

I like ai-ther unless I’m saying “me neither”

Honestly? I, as a native speaker, use both

Both are correct

Either-eye-ther, Neither-N-eye-ther.

Ironically either pronouncings works

Whichever one is gayer

I hear the first one a lot more but I'm sure it depends on the region.

Either way!

I use either/neither as in Einstein because I studied German for a while and it makes me uncomfortable to say it the other way.

There's an old joke about this word: Someone asks an Irishman, "What's the correct pronunciation, 'ee-ther' or 'eye-ther'?" He responds, "Ayther one will do."

Both are correct, and as a native speaker I honestly use both myself and don't even notice when someone is using one or the other. Same with "neither."

I think the ee pronunciation is slightly more versatile, but you really can just have fun with it

And I'm here with the song "let's call the whole thing off" in my head now 😂

IIRC, /i/ is more common in America and Canada, with some exceptions in certain regions, and in the UK it varies (I think Southern England has /aɪ/ more?)—but throughout these regions, it won't really be that strange to use the other version—I'll routinely use either pronunciation interchangably, so do whatever you want really :) > EDIT: Some of you have pointed out it should be written as ‘eye-ther’ and not ‘ai-ther’. I’m not a 100% familiar with this kind of phonetic spelling, hence the mistake. Whoever's pointing this out is wrong—there isn't really a unified standard for English respelling, and yours was perfectly understandable. If you do want a more perfect tool, you can use IPA, which can come in handy in language learning (but is absolutely not necessary).

There is no such thing as correct pronunciation. There are about 1,500,000,000 English speakers. Every single one has a different accent.

Either way is fine. Even I'm not 100% consistent.

Neither is wrong

Either is acceptable 😂

either is fine

Most people I know in the US use both. It really doesn’t matter—no one will judge you ee-/ai-ther way.

Both are correct. Which one you choose will tell you a lot about yourself. Good luck!

Either

I *think* I more commonly use *eye-the(r)*, but I don't think there's any context that would change my pron(o)unciation other than alliteration.

I made a joke earlier to my partner when we saw an eider duck. It was a pun on eider duck / either duck. Anyway, she didn’t get the joke so I had to explain it (she’s learning English, 3 years in), including a discussion the alternative pronunciations. When I was finished I found that I couldn’t remember how I normally pronounce either, and also neither.

Neither (NEE-ther) sounds strange to me. I've been trying to think about it and I think mine probably mostly come out as EE-ther and less as EYE-ther. It sort of depends on what sounds are around it. If the vowels ahead of it are lower in the mouth (woody sounds) than EYE-ther sounds fine and might flow slightly easier. "Caribou either (EYE-ther)..." If it's "Me either" then *MEE EE-ther* sounds fine and *MEE EYE-ther* would sound a bit strange. "work either here or there" sounds fine with either. ("With either" right there came out as "EE-ther" for me) This is one of those things that either (was EE-ther for me) one will sound find and it will not sound strange or stand out to anyone. (Neither as NEE-ther sounds fine. NEYE-ther does stand out as a bit unusual. That might be surprising to hear since these sounds are a lot different so it'd be easy to expect these 2 different pronunciations should be vastly different words! I was just thinking how "the" is either *THEE* or *thuh* depending on what's around it. That is probably annoying to ESL people. I'm learning French and I'm at the level that I can understand people speaking slowly or properly but trying to listen to regular people speaking fast is hard because of how syllables flow together and sounds and short words are glided over or emphasized and slip right by.

"ai-ther" is usually seen as more British and "ee-ther" as more American, but both are regularly used in both accents, even by the same speaker.

I think honestly I've heard "ee" more than "ai", but I prefer to use "ai". Same goes for "neither". Whichever one you choose will be acceptable.

Either either, neighter neighter, let's call the whole thing off.

It’s up to you. I say ee-ther though.

I pronounce it ee-ther but both work fine. Sometimes I will even swap to the other pronunciation for some reason.

they're both fine. i say "aye-ther" and got made fun of by this guy i was dating in grad school. he said "get your white collar either out of here" haha

I use both. I think ee-ther mostly, but occasionally I’ll use ai-ther if I want to add emphasis

I use both pronunciations. This way there is no need to call the whole thing off.

Both are fine. I tend to favor the former when using either to mean "both are ___" and in "either/or" and the latter when I mean "either one or the other, but not both." Not sure why, I just do.

For me it's context dependent. If I say "either or" I say "aithur". If I say "me either" i say "eethur". The first phrase comes up more often so that's what I default to, but it just depends on the flow of the sentence. I am in the US.

Both are fine, depends on where you’re from. I say both regularly. Depends on who am talking to and what I feel like saying. If the sounds around it make saying “ai ther”easier, than say it if it’s easier to say “ee-ther” than say it.

I feel ee-ther is used 2-3x more than ai-ther, but both sound completely normal in all places and in all circumstances.

Let’s call the whole thing off.

I interchange them, and I suspect many more do the same.

I’d literally say either 😅

doesn't matter. I for one use them both and switch between them whenever I feel like it. It really makes no difference.

If I start a sentence with either or neither, I use a long i—aither. In the middle of a sentence I use eether

Whatever feels comfortable to you. People will understand you EITHER way, LOL! There is no particular rule involved as far as I know.

For me it very much depends where it comes in a sentence. ‘I don’t know, I don’t mind ‘i-ther’. Or ‘Ee-ther one, is fine by me’

I prefer "ai-ther" (i would spell it "eye-ther") PURELY because it sounds fancier, and I will admit I am a little pretentious 🤣 It also is easier for me to annunciate so I feel like it comes out of my mouth more clearly for the listener.

I usually go with aither if I'm stressing that word and eether if I'm not.

I just said a few sentences out loud and think I have my way of doing it figured out. If it’s the first of last word I go ai, if it’s in the middle then ee, unless it’s a situation where I’m stressing my words for emphasis to my kids, then I’ll do ai-ther in the middle of a sentence.

I switch between the two depending on the sentence I'm using it in but have no idea if there is a discernable pattern to how I do this

I only say EEther/nEEther, but I’ve pretty much never noticed which version the person I’m listening to has used. And no one will notice which one you use, eeeether. All people hear is the meaning.

I alternate them based on sentence stresses. Ai-ther has more stress than ee-ther.

Honest answer: no one will care, and very few will even notice.

neither or neither?

I don’t know if this one is even regional, at least not within the US. Everyone I know uses both pronunciations interchangeably

If only there were a [song](https://youtu.be/LOILZ_D3aRg?si=-n6b8dgTNlLNMmZV) about this… 

Yes

I think I use/hear ee far more other than aye. Maybe 80/20. In fact, I might use aye in conjunction with the other one… Like in saying “either either” ee-ther aye-ther. To emphasize that I’m okay with both options.

Not gonna lie I think I say both depending on the rest of the sentence. Whatever my mouth fancies

Both are acceptable. I've noticed that I personally tend to say "ee-ther" at the end of a sentence, i.e. "I don't know that, either." whereas I tend to say ai-ther when it's in the middle of a sentence, i.e. "For lunch, there's a choice between either beef or fish."

You can say either

Both goated personally

You can use both pronunciations and it is so common in American English that no one will comment on it.

Either one is fine😂

Eethur is the more professional version. 

They are both acceptable and I dont know if region matters.

You can genuinely can say whichever you prefer. It's a difference that varies person to person. I say both, and it's random whichever one comes out at any given time.

ee or i

Yes

Honestly, it really doesn’t matter. I use them interchangeably, depending on my mood.

Ee- ther is most common everywhere I've live in South and midwest US. To me, eye-ther sounds pretentious.

I'm from Ireland and say ee-ther (well actually ee-der as I don't pronounce th in my accent) exclusively.

I switch between both of them. For no real reason. I just do.

I say either either way. Neither is incorrect.

I'm not a native but I use both

ee- is usually the default, ai- can be used for emphasis or if it sounds better in the sentence, like if the same vowel sound is right before it. Both options can work pretty much anytime.

I'm not claiming any universality to my distinctions but I do find that I choose one or the other depending on context.

Neither

You can say either.

I say eye-ther And n-eye-ther

Just call the whole thing off

Whichever you think sounds nicer!

British are more likely to say "eye-ther" but there's no real difference. Pick the one that you like better or is easier to say, or just switch back and forth using both of them.

Both are acceptable

Either works

Usually say Eeether with a noun “either word” but Iiiither if I’m just saying “either one”

**My own arbitrary rules are:** - If I'm stressing a choice, I say ai-ther. If I'm being dismissive, I say ee-ther. - If I'm starting the sentence with either, I pronounce it ai-ther. If I'm ending the sentence with either, I pronounce it ee-ther. In the middle of the sentence it's whichever flows better from the previous sound. - either way vs either one, I typically say ai-ther for either way, unless I really want to stress the phrase, then it's ee-ther. And either one follows the previous rules. *However, I do almost the complete opposite for neither:* - It's nee-ther when I'm stressing that both things. It's nai-ther when I'm being dismissive. - It's nee-ther at the start of a sentence, but nai-ther at the end, and whatever flows best in the middle. - I typically say nai-ther one, unless I'm really stressing the phrase, then it's nee-ther one. *After the word me:* - me ee-ther, me nai-ther

Neither, it’s actually *eye-ther* I actually thought you were trying to pronounce the word *aether* based off this description 😭

🍅 🍅

American here. I think it's standard to say both!

Both are correct, so you would use whichever sounds better in the context

Both are fine. Just don’t say ay-ther!😂

Americans tend to use “ither” British people tend to use “aither” It is matter of preference which you like to pronounce better!

**“Either, Neither, Whatever”** In a café with scones and some lightly steeped tea, Eva said *ee-thur*—Ivor stared: “Pardon me?” “It’s *eye-thur*,” he claimed, “like *height* or *conceiver*.” Eva just smirked, “More like *seize*, or *receiver*.” They dueled with *veins*, *feints*, *beige*, and *weird*, Their vowels clashed loud as their tea slowly cleared. But midway through scone crumbs and lexical flair, They paused… and just laughed at the drama in air. “For *either* or *neither*,” said Ivor with glee, “I think what we need is just more cups of tea.” --- i hope that helps in some small way

Either-or

Funnily enough, a lot of Americans use both pronunciations. It's pretty normal to use either one, and we just....say whatever comes out. I don't even think about it.

Personally I only say “ee-ther,” but I know other Americans who use the other pronunciation, and I know they use both in the UK. It might be more regional there but idk. It doesn’t seem to be that regional but idk

Either, either, neither, neither, let's call the whole thing off.