how come

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English

Etymology

Earliest use in its modern form can also be found in The Trial of Titus Oates, referring to a trial that took place in 1685:

  • 1730, F. Hargrave, A Complete Collection of State-Trials and Proceedings for High-Treason, and Other Crimes and Misdemeanours; from the Reign of King Richard II. to the End of the Reign of King George I‎, volume 4:
    Mrs. A. Ireland It was on Saturday Morning, as I remember, the 3rd of August, the Saturday after St. Ignatius's Day.
    L. C. J. How come you remember so particularly, that it was then?

In this text, it also co-occurs with forms such as "How come she to lie there?" and "How come you to remember those Days of the Month?".

Compare West Frisian hoe kom (“how come”), Dutch hoe komt het (“how comes it; why”), Afrikaans hoekom (“how come; why”).

According to Partridge's slang dictionary: US English, 1848, probably from older forms such as "How comes it that... ?" or "How does it come that... ?" and "How did it come to be like this?"

Pronunciation

Adverb

how come

  1. (idiomatic, informal) Why; why is it; for what reason or purpose; due to what cause?
    Synonym: why come
    How come you didn’t leave when you had the chance?

Usage notes

How come differs from why in that the word order of the question is the same as that of a statement. Compare:

You left. (statement)
How come you left? (statement order)
Why did you leave? (question order)

Synonyms

Descendants

  • → Jamaican Creole: ou kom

Translations

References

  1. ^ Eric Partridge (2005) “how come?”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, volume 1 (A–I), London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 1044.
  2. ^ Hegedűs, Irén; Fodor, Alexandra (2010): English Historical Linguistics 2010: Selected Papers from the Sixteenth International Conference on English Historical Linguistics, p. 179.
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