wat

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See also: WAT, Wat, wät, wát, and Wät

English

Wat Chai Watthanaram

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Thai วัด (wát).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /wat/, /wɒt/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)

Noun

wat (plural wats)

  1. A Buddhist temple in Southeast Asia, especially those in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.
    There are two wats near this village.
    Angkor Wat
    • 1857, Sir John Bowring, The kingdom and people of Siam, volume 1, page 165:
      Having at last got past the crowd of boats, we advanced rapidly for two hours more, when we stopped at a wat, in order to give the men a rest.
    • 1982, Carlo Caldarola, Religions and societies, Asia and the Middle East, page 379:
      Aside from its religious function in the community, the wat also performs a large variety of social functions.
    • 1996, James Bissett Pratt, The Pilgrimage of Buddhism and a Buddhist Pilgrimage, page 194:
      It would be a mistake, however, to emphasize the Hindu element in Cambodian Buddhism and Cambodian temples. At its greatest it is always a subordinate element and in most of the wats or temples it hardly appears at all, […]
    • 1999, Steve Van Beek with Luca Invernizzi, The arts of Thailand, page 15:
      It is often possible to discern the motivation or importance of a wat by examining its name
    • 2003, Joshua Eliot with Jane Bickersteth, Thailand handbook, page 268:
      The ubosoth is in a small enclosure just before the main entrance to the wat, on the right, which has fine gilded doors. The wat has a small museum.
Translations

See also

Etymology 2

Borrowing from Amharic ወጥ (wäṭ).

Noun

wat

  1. (cooking) A kind of stew or curry eaten in Ethiopia and Eritrea.
    • , →ISSN:
      In Ethiopia, a volcanic pepper and spice seasoning, berbere, is widely used, and the stews called wats are eaten with a spongy flat bread, injera.]

Etymology 3

Variation of what, used for humorous effect.

Pronunciation

Pronoun

wat

  1. (informal, Internet, text messaging) Alternative spelling of what

Adverb

wat (not comparable)

  1. (informal, Internet, text messaging) Alternative spelling of what

Determiner

wat

  1. (informal, Internet, text messaging) Alternative spelling of what

Anagrams

A-Pucikwar

Etymology

From Proto-Great Andamanese *wat.

Noun

wat

  1. bat
  2. flying fox

References

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch wat, from Middle Dutch wat, from Old Dutch wat, from Proto-Germanic *hwat, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷód, *kʷod.

Pronunciation

Pronoun

wat

  1. (interrogative, non-personal) what
    Coordinate term: (personal) wie
    Wat het julle gedrink? ― What did you guys drink?
  2. (relative, personal and non-personal, subject and object) who, whom, which, that
    die man wat hier woon ― the man who lives here
    die huis wat ons gebou het ― the house that we built
  3. (relative, personal and non-personal, with preposition stranding) who, which, that
    Synonyms: (without stranding) waar-, (personal only) wie
    die meisie wat ek mee gedans het ― the girl who I danced with
    die maatskappy wat ek voor gewerk het ― the company that I worked for
  4. (relative, non-personal, before se) whose, of which
    Coordinate term: (personal) wie
    die land wat se president afgetree het ― the country whose president stepped down

Related terms

See also

    Afrikaans interrogative and relative pronouns
interrogative relative
personal other personal other
subject / object wie wat wat
possessive wie se wat se wie se wat se
with
preposition 		prepositioned met wie met wat met wie —
stranded wat ... mee wat … mee
adverbial waarmee waarmee

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch wat, from Old Dutch wat, from Proto-West Germanic *hwat, from Proto-Germanic *hwat, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷód, *kʷod, compare West Frisian wat, English what, German was, Danish hvad.

Pronunciation

Pronoun

wat

  1. (interrogative) what: e.g. (1) asking for a subject complement; (2) asking for a sentence object
    (1) Wat is dat? — What is that?
    (2) Wat wil je doen? — What do you want to do?
  2. (relative) what: e.g. (1) as the object of a sentence; (2) ditto
    (1) Ik weet niet wat ik wil doen. — I don't know what I want to do.
    (2) Jij moet afblijven van wat jij daar ziet. — You must not touch what you see there.
  3. (relative) that: e.g. (1) modifying an indefinite pronoun like iets, niets, alles or het enige; (2) modifying an adjective that is used as a noun, usually a superlative
    (1) Geef mij maar alles wat eetbaar is. — Please give me everything that is edible.
    (2) Het duurste wat er was. — The most expensive that there was.
  4. (relative) which: e.g. (1) modifying the demonstrative pronouns dat and datgene; (2) referring back to an entire sentence
    (1) Hij nam precies datgene wat ik had gewild — He took exactly that which I had wanted.
    (2) Jantje deed het in z’n broek, wat zijn moeder in verlegenheid bracht. — John did it in his pants, which embarrassed his mother
  5. (indefinite) something: e.g. (1) as subject; (2) as subject complement
    (1) Daar loopt wat rond. — Something there is walking around.
    (2) Dat is aardig wat! — That is quite something!

Usage notes

This pronoun can combine with a preposition to form a pronominal adverb. When this occurs, it is changed into its adverbial/locative counterpart waar. See also Category:Dutch pronominal adverbs.

A subclause following the relative pronoun wat is in SOV order.

Descendants

  • Berbice Creole Dutch: wa, wati
  • Javindo: wat
  • Jersey Dutch: wāt, wot
  • Negerhollands: wat, awa, wa
  • Petjo: wat
  • Skepi Creole Dutch: what

Determiner

wat

  1. some
    Ik wil graag wat kersen.
    I want some cherries please.
  2. (exclamative) what (a), such
    Wat een onzin!
    What nonsense!

Usage notes

With uncountable, or countable nouns.

Adverb

wat

  1. a bit, somewhat
    Hij doet dat wat onbedachtzaam.
    He does that somewhat unthoughtfully.
  2. (exclamative) how, so
    Wat leuk!
    How nice!

German

Etymology

A regional form adopted into colloquial standard German. In western Germany from Central Franconian wat, from northern Middle High German wat, from northern Old High German hwat, an unshifted relict form possibly due to Frankish influence. In northern Germany from German Low German wat, from Middle Low German wat, from Old Saxon hwat. Doublet of was.

Pronunciation

Pronoun

wat

  1. (colloquial, regional) alternative form of was
    Wat überlegste?
    What are you thinking?

Usage notes

  • Although found in the native lects throughout northern and western Germany, the use of wat in colloquial standard German is most typical of the West (chiefly North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate). It is also heard in some parts of northern and north-eastern Germany, e.g. in and around Berlin. In all these regions, the forms wat and was are used in free variation.

Further reading

Luxembourgish

Pronunciation

Pronoun

wat

  1. (interrogative) what
    Wat ass däin Numm?
    What is your name?
  2. (relative) what
    Ech weess net, wat ech maache soll.
    I don't know what I should do.

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch wat, from Proto-Germanic *hwat.

Pronunciation

Pronoun

wat

  1. what

Descendants

Further reading

Middle English

Etymology 1

Uncertain; possibly from wight.

Noun

wāt

  1. A person.

Etymology 2

Uncertain.

Noun

wat

  1. A rabbit.
  2. A hare.

Etymology 3

A user suggests that this Middle English entry be cleaned up.
Please see the discussion on Requests for cleanup(+) or the talk page for more information and remove this template after the problem has been dealt with.

See entries.

Verb

wat

  1. Alternative form of wait, wath, wet, what, whate, whete, witen, wode, wold, woth, weten, wacche, wacchen, wachet, watchinges, wate, walte, weiten, witien.

References

Middle Low German

Etymology

From Old Saxon hwat, from Proto-Germanic *hwat.

Pronunciation

Pronoun

wat (accusative wēne or wen, dative wēme or wem, genitive wes)

  1. (interrogative, neuter) what

North Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian wit, from Proto-West Germanic *wit.

Pronoun

wat

  1. (first person dual personal pronoun) we two, both of us, us two

Old Dutch

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *hwat.

Pronoun

wat

  1. what

Descendants

Further reading

  • “wat”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

Old High German

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *wadą, whence also Old English wæd, Old Norse vað (Icelandic vað).

Noun

wat n

  1. ford

Declension

Declension of wat (neuter a-stem)
case singular plural
nominative wat wat
accusative wat wat
genitive wates wato
dative wate watum
instrumental watu —

Descendants

  • Middle High German: *wat, *wate (perhaps)
    • German: Wate f (dialectal; may also be deverbal)

References

  1. Köbler, Gerhard, Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, (6. Auflage) 2014

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Named after Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist James Watt.

Noun

wat m inan

  1. watt (derived unit of power)
Usage notes

The alternative, colloquial genitive plural form wat is proscribed.

Declension
Declension of wat
singular plural
nominative wat waty
genitive wata watów
dative watowi watom
accusative wat waty
instrumental watem watami
locative wacie watach
vocative wacie waty

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

wat f

  1. genitive plural of wata

Further reading

  • wat in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • wat in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 
  • (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈwa.t͡ʃi/, /ˈwat͡ʃ/
    • (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈwat͡ʃ/, /ˈwa.t͡ʃi/

Noun

wat m (plural wats)

  1. wat (a type of Buddhist temple common in Southeast Asia)

Scots

Etymology

Related to wet.

Adjective

wat (comparative mair wat, superlative maist wat)

  1. drunk

Transylvanian Saxon

Adverb

wat

  1. what (interrogative)

Vilamovian

wat (1)

Etymology

Dutch watten

Noun

wat f

  1. cotton wool

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian hwet, from Proto-West Germanic *hwat, from Proto-Germanic *hwat, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷód.

Pronunciation

Pronoun

wat

  1. what (interrogative)
    Wat sizze hja?
    What are they saying?
  2. what (relative)

Further reading

  • “wat”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011
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