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An vs Among - What's the difference?

an | among |

As a noun an

is favor, grace.

As a preposition among is

denotes a mingling or intermixing with distinct or separable objects (see usage note at amidst).

an

English

(wikipedia an)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) .

Article

(head)
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2 , passage=Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.}}
  • (UK, non-standard) used in many British regional accents before some words beginning with a pronounced h
  • Usage notes
    * The article (an) is used before vowel sounds and (optionally) before silent aitches, and (a) before consonant sounds. * The various article senses of (a), all are senses of (term).

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) an

    Conjunction

    (English Conjunctions)
  • (archaic) If, so long as.
  • An it please you, my lord.
  • (archaic) as if; as though.
  • Samuel Taylor Coleridge , The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere (Original Version of 1797) 61-64:
    At length did cross an Albatross, Thorough the Fog it came; And an it were a Christian Soul, We hail'd it in God's Name.

    Etymology 3

    .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The first letter of the Georgian alphabet, (Nuskhuri).
  • Etymology 4

    From the (etyl) preposition an/on.

    Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • In each; to or for each; per.
  • I was only going twenty miles an hour.
    Usage notes
    * This is the same as the word a'' in such contexts, modified because of preceding an unpronounced ''h''. ''The train was speeding along at a mile a minute.
    Synonyms
    * per

    References

    *

    Statistics

    *

    among

    English

    Alternative forms

    * amonge (archaic) * amoung (obsolete)

    Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • Denotes a mingling or intermixing with distinct or separable objects. (See Usage Note at amidst)
  • Denotes a belonging of a person or a thing to a group.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Can China clean up fast enough? , passage=All this has led to an explosion of protest across China, including among a middle class that has discovered nimbyism.}}
  • Denotes a sharing of a common feature in a group.
  • *
  • Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us […]

    Usage notes

    * For the comparison of among'' with ''between'', see the usage notes in ''between . * Due to a belief that "amongst" is an archaic/Commonwealth variant, many Americans use "among" exclusively.

    Synonyms

    * amongst (variant of among) * amidst * amid

    See also

    * between

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    *