. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
you have here. The definition of the word
will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From Middle English what , from Old English hwæt ( “ what ” ) , from Proto-West Germanic *hwat , from Proto-Germanic *hwat ( “ what ” ) , from Proto-Indo-European *kʷód ( “ what ” ) , neuter form of *kʷós ( “ who ” ) . Cognate with Scots whit ( “ what ” ) , North Frisian wat ( “ what ” ) , Saterland Frisian wat ( “ what ” ) , West Frisian wat ( “ what ” ) , Dutch wat ( “ what ” ) , Low German wat ( “ what ” ) , German was ( “ what ” ) , Danish hvad ( “ what ” ) , Norwegian Bokmål hva ( “ what ” ) , Swedish vad ( “ what ” ) , Norwegian Nynorsk kva ( “ what ” ) , Icelandic hvað ( “ what ” ) , Latin quod ( “ what, which ” ) .
Pronunciation
( Canada , General American )
( UK , New Zealand , NYC )
( General Australian ) IPA (key ) : /wɔt/
( General South African ) enPR : wŏt , IPA (key ) : /wɑt/ , /wɜt/
( Singapore ) IPA (key ) : /wʌt/ , ( as a particle ) , ( now rare ) /ʍʌt/
Rhymes: -ɒt , -ʌt
Homophones : Watt , watt , wot ( all only in British, Australian, NZ, NYC accents with the wine–whine merger )
Determiner
what
( interrogative ) Which , especially which of an open-ended set of possibilities.
What colour are you going to use?
What time is it?
What kind of car is that?
( relative ) Which ; the ... that.
I know what colour I am going to use.
That depends on what answer is received.
( relative ) Any ... that; all ... that; whatever .
He seems to have lost what sense he had.
What money I earn is soon spent.
Emphasises that something is noteworthy or remarkable in quality or degree, in either a good or bad way; may be used in combination with certain other determiners, especially 'a', less often 'some'.
This shows what beauty there is in nature.
You know what nonsense she talks.
I found out what a liar he is.
( exclamative ) Used to form exclamations indicating that something is remarkably good or bad.
Synonym: such
What nonsense!
Wow! What a speech.
What beautiful children you have.
With what passion she sings!
Little Red Riding Hood , traditional folk tale
“Oh Granny, what big eyes you have,” said Little Red Riding Hood.
Usage notes
In cases where both "what" and "which" are possible, with similar meaning, "what" is preferred for open-ended choices, while "which" is preferred for choices from a closed group or set. For example, "Which one of these do you want?" not "What one of these do you want?".
As used to begin an exclamation, what and such are largely interchangeable, with a few exceptions:
Nouns modified by such need not appear at the beginning of the sentence: She sings with such passion.
such requires that the noun phrase it modifies be gradable in some way. Such a disaster! is acceptable because a disaster may be minor or major in degree, but Such a movie! is not (except with the unusual meaning that the movie under discussion has especially "movie -like" qualities).
how is another word used at the beginning of a sentence to form an exclamation (How quickly he ran! ), but it modifies different syntactic elements (verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and certain determinatives ).
Translations
beginning an exclamation
Armenian: ինչպիսի (hy) ( inčʿpisi )
Asturian: qué (ast)
Bashkir: ниндәй ( nindəy ) , ҡалай ( qalay ) , ҡайһылай ( qayhılay )
Catalan: que (ca)
Czech: jaký (cs)
Danish: hvilken (da) c , hvilket (da) n , hvilke (da) c pl or n pl , sikke
Dutch: wat (nl) , welk (nl) ( archaic )
Finnish: kuinka (fi) , mikä (fi) , millainen (fi)
French: quel (fr) m , quelle (fr) f ( without an indefinite article )
German: was für (de) , so (de)
Greek: τι (el) ( ti )
Ancient: ἡλίκος ( hēlíkos ) ( adjective ) , οἷος ( hoîos ) ( adjective )
Hebrew: איזה (he) m ( éize )
Hiligaynon: ano
Hindi: क्या (hi) ( kyā )
Hungarian: micsoda (hu) , milyen (hu) , de (hu) , mekkora (hu)
Interlingua: qual
Italian: quanto (it) , che (it)
Japanese: 何と ( nanto )
Persian: چه (fa) ( če )
Polish: co za , jaki (pl) m ( after a preposition )
Portuguese: que (pt) , quanto (pt)
Russian: како́й (ru) m ( kakój ) , кака́я (ru) f ( kakája ) , како́е (ru) n ( kakóje ) , что за (ru) ( što za )
Slovak: aký
Slovene: kakó (sl) , kákšen
Spanish: menudo (es) , qué (es) , vaya (es)
Swedish: vad (sv) , så (sv) ( uncountable ) , sådan (sv) ( countable ) , vilken (sv)
Tagalog: ano (tl)
Zazaki: çı (diq)
Translations to be checked
Translations to be checked
Aramaic:
Hebrew: מא ( maʾ )
Armenian: ինչ (hy) ( inčʿ ) , որ (hy) ( or )
Burmese: ဘာ (my) ( bha )
Cherokee: ᎦᏙ ᎤᏍᏗ ( gado usdi )
Chinese:
Cantonese: 邊 / 边 ( bin1 )
Mandarin: 哪 (zh) ( nǎ )
Hokkien: 佗 (zh-min-nan) ( tó, tá )
Chuukese: met
Czech: jaký (cs)
Dutch: welk (nl) , wat voor (nl)
Estonian: mis (et)
Finnish: mikä (fi)
French: quel (fr) m , quelle (fr) f , quels (fr) m pl , quelles (fr) f pl
Greek: ποιος (el) ( poios )
Ancient: τί n ( tí ) , τίς m or f ( tís ) , ποῖος ( poîos ) ( adjective )
Haitian Creole: ki
Hebrew: איזה (he) ( 'éyze )
Hungarian: milyen (hu) , melyik (hu)
Icelandic: hvaða (is)
Italian: che (it)
Kapampangan : sánu
Latin: qui (la) m , quae (la) f , quod (la) n
Norwegian:
Bokmål: hvilken (no)
Polish: który (pl) m , która f , które n (which of certain choices), jaki (pl) m , jaka (pl) f , jakie n (which kind of)
Portuguese: que (pt) , qual (pt)
Romanian: ce (ro)
Russian: кото́рый (ru) m ( kotóryj ) , кото́рая (ru) f ( kotóraja ) , кото́рое (ru) n ( kotóroje ) , како́й (ru) m ( kakój ) , кака́я (ru) f ( kakája ) , како́е (ru) n ( kakóje )
Scots: whit
Scottish Gaelic: dè (+definite article)
Slovak: aký , ktorý (sk) m
Slovene: kákšen , kóliko (úra) (sl)
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: kaki
Spanish: qué (es) , cuál (es)
Swedish: vilken (sv) (which of, which kind of ), vad för (which kind of )
Tagalog: alin (tl) , ano (tl)
Pronoun
what
( interrogative ) Which thing, event, circumstance, etc.: used in asking for the specification of an identity, quantity, quality, etc.
What is your name?
Ask them what they want.
2016 , VOA Learning English (public domain)
The gym is across from … what ? — The gym is across from the lounge. — Across from the lounge. Right. Thanks!
( fused relative ) That which; those that; the thing(s) that.
He knows what he wants.
What is amazing is his boundless energy.
And, what' s even worse, I have to work on Sunday too.
( fused relative ) Anything that; all that; whatever .
I will do what I can to help you.
What is mine is yours.
( relative, nonstandard ) That ; which ; who .
'Ere! There's that bloke what I saw earlier!
Translations
what? (interrogative pronoun)
Acehnese: peuë
Adyghe: сыд ( səd )
Afrikaans: wat (af)
Aklanon: ano
Albanian: çfarë (sq) , ç'
American Sign Language: Claw5@SideTrunkhigh-PalmUp-Claw5@SideTrunkhigh-PalmUp Sidetoside-Sidetoside
Arabic: مَاذَا (ar) ( māḏā ) , مَا (ar) ( mā )
Chadian Arabic: شنو ( šunu )
Egyptian Arabic: ايه ( ēh )
Gulf Arabic: شُو ( šū ) , شنو ( šinu )
Hijazi Arabic: إيش ( ʔēš )
Iraqi Arabic: شنو ( šunu )
Levantine Arabic: شُو ( šū ) , أيش ( ʔēš )
Moroccan Arabic: أشنو ( ʔašnu ) , شنو ( šnu ) , شني ( šni ) , شني ( šanni ) , آش ( ʔāš ) , أش ( ʔaš ) , ش ( š- )
Najdi Arabic: وش ( weš ) , إِيش ( ʔēš )
Sudanese Arabic: شنو ( šinu )
Armenian: ինչ (hy) ( inčʿ )
Aromanian: tsi
Assamese: কি ( ki )
Asturian: qué (ast)
Azerbaijani: nə (az)
Bakhtiari: چی ( čē ) , چه ( čē )
Balinese: apa
Bashkir: ни ( ni ) , нимә ( nimə )
Basque: zer
Belarusian: што (be) ( što )
Bengali: কী (bn) ( ki )
Bikol Central: ano (bcl)
Brahui: anth
Breton: petra (br)
Buginese: aga
Bulgarian: какво́ ( kakvó ) , що (bg) ( što )
Burmese: ဘာ (my) ( bha )
Butuanon: ngan
Carpathian Rusyn: што ( što )
Catalan: què (ca)
Cebuano: unsa
Chechen: хӏун ( hun )
Chichewa: chiyani
Chickasaw: nanta
Chinese:
Cantonese: 乜嘢 (yue) ( mat1 je5 ) , 咩 (yue) ( me1 ) , 乜 (yue) ( mat1 )
Dungan: са ( sa )
Eastern Min: 什乇 ( sié-nó̤h, siéh-nó̤h )
Gan: 什哩 ( siit6 'li4 , xit6 'li4 , siit6 li, xit6 li )
Hakka: 麼個 / 么个 ( má-ke, mak-ke )
Hokkien: 啥 (zh-min-nan) ( siáⁿ, sáⁿ, siahⁿ, sahⁿ ) , 啥物 (zh-min-nan) ( siáⁿ-mih, siáⁿ-mi̍h, siáⁿ-mí ) , 啥貨 / 啥货 (zh-min-nan) ( siáⁿ-hòe, siáⁿ-hè, sáⁿ-hòe, sáⁿ-hè, sáⁿ-hèr ) , 物代 ( mih-tāi, bìn-tāi ) ( Kinmen, Magong )
Jin: 甚 ( seng3 )
Mandarin: 什麼 / 什么 (zh) ( shénme ) , 啥 (zh) ( shá ) ( Northern dialect ) , 何 (zh) ( hé )
Wu: 啥
Xiang: 麼子 / 么子 ( mo3 zr )
Chuvash: мӗн ( mĕn )
Classical Nahuatl: tleh , tlein , tleihqueh ( plural )
Coptic: ⲁϣ ( aš )
Czech: co (cs)
Dalmatian: co
Danish: hvad (da)
Dargwa: се ( se )
Dutch: wat (nl)
Eastern Mari: мо ( mo )
Esperanto: kio (eo)
Estonian: mis (et) , mida (et)
Even: як ( jak )
Evenki: экун ( əkun )
Faroese: hvat (fo)
Finnish: mikä (fi) , mitä (fi)
French: quoi (fr) , que (fr) , qu’est-ce que (fr) , qu’est-ce qui (fr) , quel (fr) m
Friulian: ce
Galician: que (gl)
Gamilaraay: minya
Georgian: რა (ka) ( ra )
German: was (de)
Alemannic German: waas
Gothic: 𐍈𐌰 ( ƕa )
Greek: τί ( tí ) , ίντα (el) ( ínta ) ( Aegean and Cypriot dialects )
Ancient Greek: τί n ( tí )
Gujarati: શું ( śũ )
Hawaiian: aha
Hebrew: מה (he) ( ma )
Hiligaynon: ano
Hindi: क्या (hi) ( kyā ) , का (hi) ( kā )
Hungarian: mi (hu) , mit (hu)
Hunsrik: was
Ibanag: anni
Icelandic: hvað (is)
Ido: quo (io) , quon
Igala: ẹ́ñwu
Igbo: gịnị̄
Ilocano: ania
Indonesian: apa (id) , mana (id)
Ingrian: mikä
Ingush: фу ( fu )
Interlingua: qual
Irish: cad , céard
Old Irish: cid
Isan: อิหยัง ( ì-yǎng )
Isnag: naxan
Italian: che cosa , che (it) , cosa (it)
Japanese: 何 (ja) ( なに , nani) ( when used alone ) , なん (ja) ( nan ) ( when used with another word )
Javanese: apa (jv)
Jeju: 무신거 ( musin'geo )
Jingpho: hpa
K'iche': jas
Kabardian: сыт (kbd) ( sət )
Kalmyk: ю ( yu )
Kannada: ಏನು (kn) ( ēnu )
Kapampangan: nanu ( when used alone ) , nan/nang ( when used with another word )
Karakhanid: نا ( nē )
Karelian: mis
Kashubian: co
Kazakh: не (kk) ( ne )
Khmer: អី ( ’əy ) , អ្វី (km) ( ’vǝy ) , ស្អី (km) ( s’əy )
Kikuyu: atĩa
Korean: 무엇 (ko) ( mueot ) , 뭐 (ko) ( mwo )
Krio: wetin
Kriol: wot , wani , wanim
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: چی ( çî )
Northern Kurdish: çi (ku)
Kyrgyz: эмне (ky) ( emne ) , не (ky) ( ne )
Laboya: aha
Lao: ຫຍັງ (lo) ( nyang )
Latin: quid (la)
Latvian: kas (lv) ( who and what )
Lezgi: вуч ( vuč )
Limburgish: wat (li)
Lithuanian: kas (lt) ( who and what )
Livonian: mis
Lombard: che (lmo)
Low German:
German Low German: wat (nds)
Macedonian: што ( što ) , какво ( kakvo )
Makasar: apa
Malay:
Jawi: اڤ
Rumi: apa (ms)
Malayalam: എന്ത് (ml) ( entŭ ) , എന്തൊരു (ml) ( entoru )
Maltese: xiex , x’
Manchu: ᠶᠠ ( ya ) , ᠠᡳ ( ai )
Mansi: ма̄ныр
Manx: cre
Maore Comorian: trini
Maori: aha (mi) , aha (mi) ( for an object ) , wai (mi) ( for a person ) , hea ( for a place )
Maranao: ngin
Marathi: काय (mr) ( kāy )
Middle Korean: 므슴〮 ( mùsúm ) , 므스〮 ( mùsú )
Moksha: мезе ( meźe )
Mongolian: юу (mn) ( juu ) , уу (mn) ( uu )
Mwani: kinani
Nanai: хай ( haj )
Navajo: haʼátʼíísh , daa
Neapolitan: quale , che cosa
Nepali: के (ne) ( ke )
Ngarrindjeri: minye
Ngazidja Comorian: hindri
Nigerian Pidgin: wetin
Northern Ohlone: hinṭo
Northern Thai: please add this translation if you can
Norwegian:
Bokmål: hva (no)
Nynorsk: kva (nn)
Occitan: qué (oc)
Odia: କଣ (or) ( kôṇô )
Old Church Slavonic:
Cyrillic: чьто ( čĭto )
Glagolitic: ⱍⱐⱅⱁ ( čĭto )
Old Dutch: wat
Old East Slavic: чьто ( čĭto )
Old English: hwæt
Old Frisian: hwet
Old Saxon: hwat
Old Turkic: 𐰤𐰀 ( n²a /ne/ )
Oromo: maal (om)
Ossetian: цы ( cy )
Ottoman Turkish: نه ( ne )
Pangasinan: anto
Papiamentu: ki
Pashto: څه (ps) ( cə )
Pela: pɛ̠⁵⁵ , pɛ̠⁵⁵ tʃuŋ⁵¹
Persian: چه (fa) ( če ) , چی (fa) ( či ) , چه چیزی ( če čizi )
Pipil: tay
Polabian: cü
Polish: co (pl)
Portuguese: o que
Punjabi: ਕੀ ( kī )
Rapa Nui: aha
Romanian: ce (ro)
Russian: что (ru) ( što )
Sanskrit: किम् (sa) ( kim )
Scots: whit
Scottish Gaelic: dè
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: ( Štokavian ) што̏ , шта̏ , ( Kajkavian ) кај
Roman: ( Štokavian ) štȍ (sh) , štȁ , ( Kajkavian ) kaj
Shan: please add this translation if you can
Shor: ноо ( noo )
Sicilian: chi (scn)
Sidamo: ma
Sindhi: ڇا
Sinhalese: මොකක්ද ( mokakda )
Slovak: čo (sk)
Slovene: káj (sl)
Somali: maxa
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: co
Upper Sorbian: što (hsb)
Southern Thai: พรือ
Spanish: qué (es) , cuál (es)
Sundanese: naon (su)
Swahili: nini
Swedish: vad (sv)
Sylheti: ꠇꠤꠔꠣ ( kita )
Tagalog: ano (tl)
Tajik: чӣ (tg) ( čī )
Talysh: ( Asalemi ) چی ( ci ) , چیچی ( cici ) , چه ( cə )
Tamil: என்ன (ta) ( eṉṉa ) , எது (ta) ( etu )
Taos: híli
Tatar: ни ( ni )
Tausug: unu
Tedim Chin: bang
Telugu: ఏమిటి (te) ( ēmiṭi )
Tetum: sá
Thai: อะไร (th) ( à-rai ) , ยังไง (th) ( yang-ngai )
Tibetan: ག་རེ ( ga re )
Tumbuka: njani
Turkish: ne (tr)
Turkmen: näme
Tuvan: чүү ( çüü )
Ugaritic: 𐎎𐎅 ( mh )
Ukrainian: що (uk) ( ščo )
Urdu: کیا ( kyā )
Uyghur: نېمە ( nëme ) , نە ( ne ) ( literally )
Uzbek: nima (uz)
Veps: mi
Vietnamese: gì (vi)
Volapük: ( nominative ) kis (vo) , ( accusative ) kisi
Võro: miä
Waray-Waray: ano
Welsh: beth (cy)
White Hmong: dab tsi
Yagnobi: чо ( čo )
Yiddish: וואָס ( vos )
Yola: fade
Yoruba: kí ni
Zazaki: se (diq) , çıçi
Zealandic: wat
Zhuang: caemjdoh , gaiqmaz
Zou: bengnge
Zulu: ni , -ni
ǃKung: tsa-de
fused relative pronoun: that which; those that; the thing(s) that
Arabic: مَا (ar) ( mā )
Armenian: ինչ (hy) ( inčʿ )
Basque: -n
Bulgarian: какво ( kakvo )
Czech: co (cs)
Dutch: wat (nl) , hetgeen (nl)
Dzongkha: ཅི ( ci )
Esperanto: ke (eo) , kiu (eo)
Estonian: mida (et)
Finnish: mikä (fi)
French: ce que (fr) , ce qui (fr)
Galician: o que
German: was (de)
Greek: τι (el) ( ti ) , αυτό που ( aftó pou )
Haitian Creole: sa
Hiligaynon: ano
Hungarian: ( the fact/claim which ) (hogy (hu) ) mi (hu) , (hogy (hu) ) mit (hu) ( accusative ) , ( the thing which ) ami (hu) , amit (hu) ( accusative )
Hunsrik: was
Italian: quello che , ciò che , quel che , cosa (it)
Japanese: 物 (ja) ( mono ) , の (ja) ( no ) , こと (ja) ( koto )
Latin: quod (la) n
Macedonian: што ( što ) , тоа што ( toa što )
Neapolitan: chello ca
Norwegian: hva (no)
Persian: آنچه (fa) ( ânče )
Polish: co (pl) , to, co
Portuguese: o que
Rapa Nui: aha
Romanian: care (ro)
Russian: что (ru) ( što ) , то, что (ru) ( to, što )
Scots: whit
Scottish Gaelic: na
Serbo-Croatian: što (sh) , šta
Slovak: ktorý (sk) m , čo (sk)
Slovene: kàj (sl)
Spanish: lo que
Swedish: vad (sv)
Tagalog: ano (tl)
Zazaki: çıçi
Zealandic: wat-a
nonstandard relative pronoun
Dutch: dat (nl) , wat (nl)
Finnish: mikä (fi)
French: que (fr) , qui (fr)
German: der (de) m , die (de) f , das (de) n , was (de) n
Greek: ο οποίος ( o opoíos ) , που (el) ( pou )
Hebrew: ( prefix ) ש (he) ( she )
Hungarian: mi (hu) , ami (hu) , mit (hu) ( accusative ) , amit (hu) ( accusative )
Ingrian: kumpa
Latin: quod (la)
Malay: benda (ms) , perkara
Persian: که (fa) ( ke )
Portuguese: que (pt)
Russian: кото́рый (ru) ( kotóryj ) , что (ru) ( što )
Slovene: kàj (sl) , kàr
Spanish: que (es)
Swedish: som (sv)
Ukrainian: яки́й (uk) ( jakýj ) , що (uk) ( ščo )
West Frisian: dy't
Zazaki: se (diq)
Adverb
what (not comparable )
( interrogative ) In what way; to what extent.
What does it matter?
What do you care?
Used before a prepositional phrase to emphasise that something is taken into consideration as a cause or reason; usually used in combination with 'with' (see what with ), and much less commonly with other prepositions.
1787 , Henry St. John, Lord Viscount Bolingbroke, Letters on the Study and Use of History: A Letter to Sir William Windham , page 83 :In short; what by the indiscretion of people here, what by the rebound which came often back from London, what by the private interests and ambitious views of persons in the French court, and what by other causes unnecessary to be examined now, the most private transactions came to light [...]
1815 , Rev. Mr. Milne, letter reprinted in The Evangelical Magazine and Missionary Chronicle, Volume 23 , page 82.
The Chinese of all ranks, and in every place, received my books gladly, and listened with patience to what I had to say about the true God.—So that what from opportunities of attending to the object of my Mission among the Chinese—what from seasons of religious instruction to Dutch and English—what from intercourse with gentlemen of education and knowledge of the world—what from occasions of stating clearly the object of Missions, and of endeavouring to remove prejudices against them—and what from the view of a highly cultivated country, happy under an enlightened and liberal government, I have much reason to be satisfied with this journey
Translations
Translations to be checked
Translations to be checked
Interjection
what
An expression of surprise or disbelief.
c. 1603–1606 , William Shakespeare , “The Tragedie of King Lear ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio ), London: Isaac Iaggard , and Ed Blount , published 1623 , →OCLC , (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals) :What , have his daughters brought him to this pass?
What ! That’s amazing !
What do you want? An abrupt, usually unfriendly enquiry as to what a person desires.
What ? I'm busy.
( Britain , colloquial , dated ) Clipping of what do you say ? Used as a type of tag question to emphasise a statement and invite agreement, often rhetorically.
1918 , Denis Garstin, The Shilling Soldiers , London: Hodder and Stoughton, page 83 :“That’s riled them,” said my compaion. “Good work, what ?”
It’s a nice day, what ?
What did you say? I beg your pardon ?
— Could I have some of those aarrrrrr mmmm ... — What ?
Indicating a guess or approximation, or a pause to try to recall information.
I must have been, what , about five years old.
Alternative forms
Synonyms
Translations
expression of surprise
Bulgarian: какво! ( kakvo! )
Catalan: com (ca) , i ara (ca)
Czech: cože? (cs)
Dutch: wat! (nl)
Estonian: mida? (et) , mis? (et) , misasja? , kuidas? (et)
Finnish: ( 1 ) mitä! (fi)
French: quoi ! (fr) , comment ! (fr)
German: was! (de)
Greek: τι (el) ( ti )
Ancient: τί δὲ ( tí dè )
Hebrew: מָה? (he) ( ma? )
Hungarian: ( 1 ) mi? (hu) , micsoda? (hu)
Icelandic: ha? (is)
Indonesian: apa (id)
Italian: cosa (it)
Japanese: 何 (ja) ( なに, nani )
Kapampangan: nano nanu na
Korean: 어때? (ko) ( eottae? )
Malay: apa (ms)
Manx: yagh?
Maori: hā , are
Polish: co! (pl)
Portuguese: o quê? (pt)
Russian: как! (ru) ( kak! ) , что! (ru) ( što! )
Slovak: čo (sk)
Slovene: káj! (sl) , a rés! (sl)
Spanish: ¡qué! (es) , ¿no? (es) , ¿cómo? (es)
Swedish: va! (sv)
Tagalog: ano (tl) , ha
Turkish: ne (tr)
Vietnamese: gì (vi)
Welsh: beth (cy)
enquiry to what a person desires
Translations to be checked
Noun
what (countable and uncountable , plural whats )
( obsolete , uncountable ) Something ; thing ; stuff .
( countable ) The identity of a thing, as an answer to a question of what .
2005 , Norman K. Denzin, Yvonna S. Lincoln, The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research , page 493 :The emphasis on the interplay between the hows and whats of interpretive practice is paramount.
( countable ) Something that is addressed by what , as opposed to a person, addressed by who .
2012 , "We Are Both", season 2, episode 2 of Once Upon a Time
Regina: What are you?
Rumplestiltskin: What? What? What? My, my, what a rude question! I am not a what .
Particle
what
( Manglish , Singlish ) Emphasizes the truth of an assertion made to contradict an evidently false assumption held by the listener.
— Too bad there isn't a library nearby. — The National Library is a five-minute walk from here what .
1978 , L. C. Cheong, Youth in the Army , page 142 :Most things come from Europe what .
2007 , yansimon52, soc.culture.singapore (Usenet ):[ …] they can't be the same what ?
Derived terms
See also
( Singlish particles ) : ah , hor , know , lah , leh , liao , lor , mah , meh , one , sia
References
Low, Ee Ling; Brown, Adam (2005) English in Singapore: An Introduction , →ISBN
Kuteva, Tania; Rhee, Seongha; Ziegeler, Debra; Sabban, Jessica (2018), “On sentence-final “what” in Singlish: Are you the Queen of England, or what?”, in Journal of Language Contact
Anagrams
Chinese
Alternative forms
Etymology
From clipping of English What sApp .
Pronunciation
Verb
what
( Hong Kong Cantonese ) to WhatsApp ; to send via WhatsApp
Middle English
Etymology 1
From Old English hwæt , from Proto-West Germanic *hwat , from Proto-Germanic *hwat , from Proto-Indo-European *kʷód .
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Pronoun
what
what
Descendants
English: what
Scots: what , whate , whit , whut , wha' , quhat , quat , fat , faht , phat , fit , fut , fout , at
Yola: faade , fhaade , faad , fade , f'ad , fadere
Adverb
what
Why .
1387–1400 , Geoffrey Chaucer , “The Sompners Tale ”, in The Canterbury Tales , [Westminster: William Caxton , published 1478] , →OCLC ; republished in [William Thynne ], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, , [London]: [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes , 1542 , →OCLC :
Used to introduce each of two coordinate phrases or concepts; both...and...
1485 , Sir Thomas Malory , “primum ”, in Le Morte Darthur , book III:And as for on C good knyghtes I haue my self / but I fawte / l / for so many haue ben slayne in my dayes / and so Ladegreans delyuerd his doughter Gweneuer vnto Merlyn / and the table round with the C knyghtes / and so they rode fresshly with grete royalte / what by water and what by land / tyl that they came nyghe vnto london (please add an English translation of this quotation)
Descendants
References
“what, pron. ”, in MED Online , Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan , 2007.
“what, adv. & conj. ”, in MED Online , Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan , 2007.
Etymology 2
Noun
what
Alternative form of whate
Scots
Etymology 1
From Middle English what , from Old English hwæt , from Proto-West Germanic *hwat . Cognates include English what and Yola faade .
Alternative forms
whate , whit , whut , wha' , quhat , quat , fat , faht , phat , fit , fut , fout , at
Pronunciation
Pronoun
what
( interrogative ) what ?
( relative ) that , which
Adverb
what
( interrogative ) how ?
( interrogative ) why ?
( relative ) as , than , how
( exclamatory ) how !
Determiner
what
( interrogative ) what ?
( relative ) what , which
( exclamatory ) what a lot of! how many!
Etymology 2
From Middle English whetten , from Old English hwettan , from Proto-West Germanic *hwattjan . Cognates include English whet .
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Verb
what (third-person singular simple present whats , present participle whatin , simple past whatt , past participle whatt )
( transitive ) to whet , hone , sharpen
References
Yola
Etymology
From Middle English whætte , from Old English hwettan , from Proto-West Germanic *hwattjan .
Pronunciation
Verb
what
to whet
1867 , “ABOUT AN OLD SOW GOING TO BE KILLED”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY , number 1, page 106 :A skudhelès, lhaung roosta, wull glaude leth aam what . The knives, that were long rusty, well-pleased let them whet .
References
Jacob Poole (1867), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland , London: J. Russell Smith, page 78