General
whole nother
What does whole nother mean?
Southern reshaping of "a whole other," splitting "another" around "whole."
"That's a whole nother problem right there."
Origin
Colloquial infixing (tmesis) of "whole" inside "another," widespread in Southern speech.
Frequently asked questions
What does "whole nother" mean?
It means an entirely different thing — a colloquial reshaping of "a whole other."
Is "whole nother" grammatically correct?
It's nonstandard but extremely common in speech. It comes from splitting "another" around "whole," a process linguists call tmesis (infixing).
How do you use "whole nother"?
Use it to flag something distinct: "That's a whole nother problem right there."
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