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whats

what
W w

Transcription

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

Definitions of whats word

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

Information block about the term

Origin of whats

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 Whats

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation

whats 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".

whats usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Top questions with whats

  • whats happen when you die?

See also

Matching words

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