如何

Japanese

Kanji in this term
如	何

Adverb

如何 (hiragana どう, romaji dō)

1. in what manner?, how?
2. what about...? (used to make a suggestion)

Adverb

如何 (hiragana いかが, romaji ikaga)

1. in what manner?, how? (more polite than どう)
2. what about...? (used to make a suggestion) (more polite than どう)

See also

Japanese demonstratives

	ko- “this” (close to speaker)	so- “that” (close to listener)	a- “that over there” (far from both)	do- “which” (indeterminate, question)
Object	これ	それ	あれ	どれ
	これら	それら	あれら	—
Determiner	この	その	あの	どの
	これらの	それらの	あれらの	—
Kind	こんな	そんな	あんな	どんな
Place	ここ	そこ	あそこ*	どこ
Direction	こちら	そちら	あちら	どちら
	こっち	そっち	あっち	どっち
Human	こいつ	そいつ	あいつ	どいつ
Manner	こう	そう	ああ**	どう
* irregular ** regular (long vowel)

Usage notes

• The hiragana spelling (どう or いかが) are preferred to the kanji spelling (如何), which is rarely used.

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Mandarin

simpl. and trad.
如何

Etymology

Literally: like what?

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adverb

如何 (traditional and simplified, Pinyin rúhé)

1. (Elementary Mandarin) how
2. (Elementary Mandarin) how about it?

Synonyms

• trad. 怎樣, simpl. 怎样
• trad. 怎麼樣, simpl. 怎么样