- even
- O.E. efen "level," also "equal" (as in efeneald "of the same age"), from P.Gmc. *ebnaz (cf. Ger. eben, Goth. ibns). Etymologists are uncertain whether the original sense was "level" or "alike." Of numbers, from 1550s. Modern adverbial sense (introducing an extreme case of something more generally implied) seems to have arisen 16c. from use of the word to emphasize identity ("Who, me?" "Even you," etc.) Sense of "on an equal footing" is from 1630s. Related: Evenly. Rhyming reduplication phrase even steven is attested from 1866; even break first recorded 1911. Evenhanded attested from c.1600; even-tempered from 1875.