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what

what
W w

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • UK Pronunciation
    • UK IPA
    • [hwuht, hwot, wuht, wot; unstressed hwuh t, wuh t]
    • /ʰwʌt, ʰwɒt, wʌt, wɒt; unstressed ʰwət, wət/
    • /wɒt/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [hwuht, hwot, wuht, wot; unstressed hwuh t, wuh t]
    • /ʰwʌt, ʰwɒt, wʌt, wɒt; unstressed ʰwət, wət/

Definitions of what word

  • noun what the true nature or identity of something, or the sum of its characteristics: a lecture on the whats and hows of crop rotation. 1
  • adjective what (used interrogatively before nouns): What news? What clothes shall I pack? 1
  • adjective what whatever: Take what supplies you need. 1
  • adverb what to what extent or degree? how much?: What does it matter? 1
  • adverb what (used to introduce a prepositional phrase beginning with with): What with storms and all, their return was delayed. 1
  • adverb what Obsolete. for what reason or purpose? why? 1

Information block about the term

Origin of what

First appearance:

before 900
One of the 4% oldest English words
before 900; Middle English; Old English hwæt; cognate with German was, Dutch wat, Old Norse hvat; akin to Gothic hwa, Latin quod, Greek tí

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for What

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation

what popularity

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 99% 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".

what usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for what

pronoun what

  • as — If something happens as something else happens, it happens at the same time.
  • whatever — in any amount; to any extent: whatever merit the work has.
  • anything — You use anything in statements with negative meaning to indicate in a general way that nothing is present or that an action or event does not or cannot happen.

conjunction what

  • whichever — no matter which: whichever day; whichever ones you choose.
  • which — what one of (a certain number or group mentioned or implied)?: Which book do you want?

Top questions with what

  • what time is i t?
  • what time is it...?
  • what time is it?
  • what is my i.p?
  • what is mp ip?
  • what is my ip-?
  • what is m y ip?
  • what is an angry dragon?
  • what?
  • what i s my ip?
  • what is my ip?
  • what happened in paris?
  • what ...?
  • what my ip?
  • what is día de los muertos?

See also

Matching words

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