how come

H h

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
- [hou kuhm]
- /haʊ kʌm/
- /ˈhaʊ kʌm/

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [hou kuhm]
- /haʊ kʌm/

Definitions of how come words

adverb how come in what way or manner; by what means?: How did the accident happen? 1
adverb how come to what extent, degree, etc.?: How damaged is the car? 1
adverb how come in what state or condition?: How are you? 1
adverb how come for what reason; why?: How can you talk such nonsense? 1
adverb how come to what effect; with what meaning?: How is one to interpret his action? 1
adverb how come what?: How do you mean? If they don't have vanilla, how about chocolate? 1

See all 19 definitions of how come

Information block about the term

Origin of how come

First appearance:

before 900

One of the 4% oldest English words

before 900; Middle English how, hu, Old English hū; cognate with Old Frisian hū, ho, Dutch hoe; akin to German wie (Old High German hweo), Gothic hwaiwa

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for How come

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of How come

how come popularity

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 95% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.

Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".

how come usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer