What does "but one" mean in the following sentence – the only? One of many?
Scientists think the African elephant’s brain structure is but one indicator of its intelligence.
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Also see: Does “but one” mean “only one” or “except one”? – MetaEd Feb 17 '17 at 18:31
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Scientists think the African elephant’s brain structure is but one indicator of its intelligence.
"But one" in this context could be interchanged with "only one".
The "brain structure" is one , but not the only, "indicator".
In other contexts, "but one" conveys singularity:
All the books had red covers but one.
Here "but one" means one book had a cover that was not red.
