Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word hwæt. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word hwæt, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say hwæt in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word hwæt you have here. The definition of the word hwæt will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofhwæt, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
Be þām hringum man meahte witan hwæt Rōmāna duguþe ġefeallen wæs, for þon þe hit wæs þēaw mid him on þām dagum þæt nān ōðer ne mōste gyldenne hring werian būtan hē æðeles cynnes wǣre.
You could tell by the rings how much of the Roman nobility had fallen, because the custom back then was that no one could wear a gold ring unless they were from a noble family.
Ġif þū tōdǣlst hwæt on fēower, sē fēorða dǣl biþ quadrans ġeċīeġed, and þā ōðre dōdrantēs bēoþ ġenemnede.
If you divide something into fours, one part is called a quadrans (Latin for ‘one fourth’), and the other three are called dodrantes (Latin for ‘three fourths’).
Then the Jews said, “Now we know you’re crazy. Abraham died, and so did the prophets, and you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, they will never die.’ Are you saying you’re greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you think you are?”
Hwæt we Gardena in geardagum þeodcyninga þrym gefrunon;
Indeed we know about the might of the great kings of the Spear Danes in the days of yore;
Hwæt þu hæfst geweaxen!
How you've grown!
Usage notes
Beginning with the work of Jacob Grimm, scholars have presumed 'hwæt' may have had the capacity to appear as an interjection. However, in recent decades, this assumption has been demonstrated to be false. Hwæt does not behave syntactically as an interjection, it is not listed by Aelfric as an OE interjection, and it appears zero times in 85 glosses of Latin ecce. See the Walkden article in References for more.