或(あ)るいはOr, Possibly, Maybe, Perhaps, Or possibly

あるいは is a construction in Japanese that is used as a 接続語(せつぞくご) (conjunction). It usually appears after statements that have been marked with the adverbial particle か. あるいは may be loosely translated as 'possibly', 'maybe', or 'or'.

Although usually being treated as a single word, あるいは is actually a combination of the attributive form of 或(あ)る, a verb meaning 'a certain', the suffix character い (used for making い-Adjectives), and the adverbial particle は. Due to this, the literal meaning of あるいは is just 'another possibility', as it highlights a certain something existing within the same area/category as (A).