The adjective comes from a conflation of several different terms:
* Middle English alich, alych, alyke, a Late Middle English development from earlier Middle English anlich, anlyke, from Old English onlīċ, anlīċ. Compare German ähnlich.
* The borrowed Old Norse cognate of the same word, álíkr, ultimately yielding similar Late Middle English forms.
* Middle English ylich, ylych, ilich, ylik, ylike, ȝelic, from Old English ġelīċ (“like; alike; similar; equal”), from Proto-West Germanic *galīk, from Proto-Germanic *galīkaz (“alike, similar”). Cognate with Scots elyke, alyke (“like, alike”), Saterland Frisian gliek (“like, alike”), West Frisian lyk, gelyk (“like, alike”), Dutch gelijk (“like, alike”), German Low German liek, gliek (“like, alike”), German gleich (“equal, like”), Danish lig (“alike”), Swedish lik (“like, similar”), Norwegian lik (“like, alike”), Icelandic líkur (“alike, like, similar”). Equivalent to a- (Etymology 3) + like. Compare also West Frisian allyk (“all the same, alike”).
Similarly, the adverb also comes from a conflation of several different terms:
* Middle English aliche, alyche, alyke, a Late Middle English development from earlier Middle English anliche, anlyke, from Old English onlīċe, anlīċe.
* Additionally Middle English oliche, olike, ultimately from the Old Norse cognate of the same word, álíka.
* Middle English yliche, ylyche, iliche, ylike, ȝelice, from Old English ġelīċe (“alike, similarly”).
Meanings
Having resemblance or similitude; similar; without difference.
Twins are physically alike, that is, similar-looking people on the outside.
The adjective comes from a conflation of several different terms:
* Middle English alich, alych, alyke, a Late Middle English development from earlier Middle English anlich, anlyke, from Old English onlīċ, anlīċ. Compare German ähnlich.
* The borrowed Old Norse cognate of the same word, álíkr, ultimately yielding similar Late Middle English forms.
* Middle English ylich, ylych, ilich, ylik, ylike, ȝelic, from Old English ġelīċ (“like; alike; similar; equal”), from Proto-West Germanic *galīk, from Proto-Germanic *galīkaz (“alike, similar”). Cognate with Scots elyke, alyke (“like, alike”), Saterland Frisian gliek (“like, alike”), West Frisian lyk, gelyk (“like, alike”), Dutch gelijk (“like, alike”), German Low German liek, gliek (“like, alike”), German gleich (“equal, like”), Danish lig (“alike”), Swedish lik (“like, similar”), Norwegian lik (“like, alike”), Icelandic líkur (“alike, like, similar”). Equivalent to a- (Etymology 3) + like. Compare also West Frisian allyk (“all the same, alike”).
Similarly, the adverb also comes from a conflation of several different terms:
* Middle English aliche, alyche, alyke, a Late Middle English development from earlier Middle English anliche, anlyke, from Old English onlīċe, anlīċe.
* Additionally Middle English oliche, olike, ultimately from the Old Norse cognate of the same word, álíka.
* Middle English yliche, ylyche, iliche, ylike, ȝelice, from Old English ġelīċe (“alike, similarly”).
Meanings
(not-comparable) In the same manner, form, or degree; in common; equally.
The wide prospect up stream was grey and lowering, the long still-distant waterfront of Dundee, and the Fife shore were alike colourless, and there was ample evidence of rough weather not far ahead. 1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, page 7:
As the Knight himself seemed tacitly to disclaim alike interest and controul over the immediate favourite of his lady, young Roland was, by circumstances, exempted from the strict discipline to which, as the retainer of a Scottish man of rank, he would otherwise have been subjected, according to all the rigour of the age. 1820, [Walter Scott], chapter III, in The Abbot. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, page 73:
We are all alike concerned in religion.
Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows, yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations. 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter II, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
(not-comparable) In the same manner, form, or degree; in common; equally. ▸ Used after a list of subjects to indicate that something applies equally to all of them.
There is a dangerous censoriousness pulsing through American society. In small towns and big cities alike, would-be commissars are fighting, in the name of a distinct minority of Americans, to stifle open discussion and impose their views on the community at large. Dissenters, when they speak out, are hounded, ostracized and sometimes even forced from their jobs. 2022 February 18, Jamelle Bouie, “Opinion: You Just Can’t Tell the Truth About America Anymore”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 02 May 2023:
The new policy will benefit employees and customers alike.
In the words of an official report (that might well apply to all the railways): "Public interest in the region of Cuenca is not favourable towards completion of the railway, probably because it has shifted towards the road construction programme now being favoured by the Government and public alike." 1957 December 14, J. G. Alderson, “By Rail Through the Andes in Ecuador”, in Railway Magazine, page 837:
de gleichermaßen (tn the same manner, form, or degree; equally) · ru одина́ково (tn the same manner, form, or degree; equally) · de gleich (tn the same manner, form, or degree; equally) · pt igualmente (tn the same manner, form, or degree; equally) · fi yhtä (tn the same manner, form, or degree; equally) · es por igual (tn the same manner, form, or degree; equally) · it ugualmente (tn the same manner, form, or degree; equally) · fi yhtäläisesti (tn the same manner, form, or degree; equally) · es de la misma manera (tn the same manner, form, or degree; equally) · vi đều (tn the same manner, form, or degree; equally) · ru то́чно та́к же (tn the same manner, form, or degree; equally) · pt similarmente (tn the same manner, form, or degree; equally) · grc ὁμῶς (tn the same manner, form, or degree; equally) · ru похо́же (tn the same manner, form, or degree; equally) · es igualmente (tn the same manner, form, or degree; equally) · fr pareillement (tn the same manner, form, or degree; equally) · ga mar an gcéanna (tn the same manner, form, or degree; equally) · es similarmente (tn the same manner, form, or degree; equally) · ru подо́бно (tn the same manner, form, or degree; equally) · it similmente (tn the same manner, form, or degree; equally) · hu egyaránt (tn the same manner, form, or degree; equally) · hu hasonlóképpen (tn the same manner, form, or degree; equally) · hu egyformán (tn the same manner, form, or degree; equally)