even

Etymology 1

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 यमस् (yamás, “pair, twin”)) is problematic from a phonological point of view.

adj

1. Flat and level.
   Clear out those rocks. The surface must be even.
2. Without great variation.
   Despite her fear, she spoke in an even voice.
3. Equal in proportion, quantity, size, etc.
   The distribution of food must be even.
   Call it even.
4. (not comparable, of an integer) Divisible by two.
   Four, fourteen and forty are even numbers.
5. (of a number) Convenient for rounding other numbers to; for example, ending in a zero.
   Coles. How many shares have you bought, Mr. Garfinkle? Garfinkle. One hundred and ninety-six thousand.[…] Jorgenson. […] How'd you figure out to buy such an odd amount? Why not two hundred thousand — nice even number. Thought you liked nice even numbers. 1989, Jerry Sterner, Other People's Money, act I
   He put me on the scale in my underwear and socks: 82 pounds.[…] I left, humming all day long, remembering that once upon a time my ideal weight had been 84, and now I'd even beaten that. I decided 80 was a better number, a nice even number to be. 1998, Marya Hornbacher, chapter 8, in Wasted, paperback edition, HarperPerennial, published 1999, page 253
6. On equal monetary terms; neither owing nor being owed.
7. (colloquial) On equal terms of a moral sort; quits.
   You biffed me back at the barn, and I biffed you here—so now we're even.
8. Parallel; on a level; reaching the same limit.
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9. (obsolete) Without an irregularity, flaw, or blemish; pure.
10. (obsolete) Associate; fellow; of the same condition.
    His even servant. c. 1382–1395, John Wycliffe, Bible - Matthew 18.29

verb

1. (transitive) To make flat and level.
   We need to even this playing field; the west goal is too low.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To equal or equate; to make the same.
3. (intransitive, obsolete) To be equal.
   Thrice nine evens twenty seven.
4. (transitive, obsolete) To place in an equal state, as to obligation, or in a state in which nothing is due on either side; to balance, as accounts; to make quits.
   We need to even the score.
   Madam, the care I have had to even your content I wish might be found in the calendar of my past endeavours, for then we wound our modesty, and make foul the clearness of our deservings, when of ourselves we publish them. c. 1604–05, William Shakespeare, All's Well that Ends Well, act 1, scene 3
5. (transitive, obsolete) To set right; to complete.
6. (transitive, obsolete) To act up to; to keep pace with.
   Prithee away, There's more to be considered: but we'll even All that good time will give us. c. 1611, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline, act 3, scene 4

adv

1. (archaic) Exactly, just, fully.
   I fulfilled my instructions even as I had promised.
   You are leaving tonight? — Even so.
   This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you.
2. In reality; implying an extreme example in the case mentioned, as compared to the implied reality.
   Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn sometimes.
   Did you even make it through the front door?
   That was before I was even born.
   He read the letter aloud. Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement. 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest
   Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia. The cheapest way to clear logged woodland is to burn it, producing an acrid cloud of foul white smoke that, carried by the wind, can cover hundreds, or even thousands, of square miles. 2013-06-29, “Unspontaneous combustion”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 29
3. Emphasizing a comparative.
   I was strong before, but now I am even stronger.
4. Signalling a correction of one's previous utterance; rather, that is.
   My favorite actor is Jack Nicklaus. Jack Nicholson, even.

noun

1. (mathematics, diminutive) An even number.
   So let's see. There are two evens here and three odds.

Etymology 2

From Middle English even, from Old English ǣfen, from Proto-Germanic *ēbanþs. Cognate with Dutch avond, Low German Avend, German Abend, Danish aften. See also the related terms eve and evening.

noun

1. (archaic or poetic) Evening.