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what have you

what have you
W w

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [hwuht, hwot, wuht, wot hav yoo]
    • /ʰwʌt, ʰwɒt, wʌt, wɒt hæv yu/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [hwuht, hwot, wuht, wot hav yoo]
    • /ʰwʌt, ʰwɒt, wʌt, wɒt hæv yu/

Definitions of what have you words

  • noun what have you 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 have you (used interrogatively before nouns): What news? What clothes shall I pack? 1
  • adjective what have you whatever: Take what supplies you need. 1
  • adverb what have you to what extent or degree? how much?: What does it matter? 1
  • adverb what have you (used to introduce a prepositional phrase beginning with with): What with storms and all, their return was delayed. 1
  • adverb what have you Obsolete. for what reason or purpose? why? 1

Information block about the term

Origin of what have you

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 have you

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation

what have you 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 have you usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

See also

Matching words

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