both
UK[bəʊθ]US[boʊθ]
determiner, pronoun
Used to refer to two people or things, regarded and identified together.
Etymology
The word 'both' originates from the Old Norse phrase 'báðir', meaning 'both'. This replaced the Old English equivalent 'bēġen'. The Old Norse form is related to other Germanic terms, such as Old High German 'bēde' and Gothic 'bai'. These can be traced back to the Proto-Germanic 'bai', which itself is derived from the Proto-Indo-European 'bʰóh₁', a compound particle meaning 'both'. The core semantic logic has remained remarkably stable from its ancient origins, consistently serving as a dual determiner or pronoun to link two entities together as a pair.
Analysis
The word 'both' is a simplex form derived from Old Norse. It is not productively segmentable into smaller, meaningful morphemes in modern English.
Examples
Both children are at school.
She held the bag in both hands.
I liked them both.