einander

Etymology
From, from compound of. Semantically limited by the to singular contexts, similar to  or.

The combined form does not inflect in modern German, and may be used unchanged in dative and accusative grammatical cases. Older forms could show inflection on the second ander portion, or on both the ein and ander portions. Any prepositions, which grammatically and semantically would apply to the second ander portion of the word, were already appearing in front of the compound term in 🇨🇬, and in New High German (i.e., modern German), prepositions are compounded onto the front of the term.

Pronoun

 * 1) each other

Usage notes

 * Prepositions are prefixed to the pronoun, thus “with each other” becomes miteinander. The spelling mit einander is not unfrequently seen, but is nonstandard nowadays.
 * As opposed to English grammar, German einander is only obligatory after prepositions, or when the reciprocity of the action is not evident from the context:


 * Otherwise it is common practice to use reflexive pronouns instead. Although not wrong, it would be quite formal—and sometimes even awkward—to use einander where it is not needed.


 * In colloquial German, einander is generally used with prepositions only. Otherwise, the adverb is added to accentuate reciprocity. This usage is also correct in standard German proper, but not quite as frequent as in the vernacular.