what

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English what, from Old English hwæt (“what”), from Proto-Germanic *hwat (“what”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷód (“what”), neuter form of *kʷós (“who”). Cognate with Scots what (“what”), North Frisian wat (“what”), Saterland Frisian wat (“what”), West Frisian wat (“what”), Dutch wat (“what”), Low German wat (“what”), German was (“what”), Danish hvad (“what”), Swedish vad (“what”), Icelandic hvað (“what”), Latin quod (“what, which”).

Pronunciation

• (Australia) IPA: /wɔt/, X-SAMPA: /wOt/
• (UK, New Zealand) IPA: /ʍɒt/, /wɒt/, X-SAMPA: /WQt/, /wQt/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒt
• (US) IPA: /wʌt/, /ʍʌt/, X-SAMPA: /wVt/, /WVt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophones: Watt, watt, wot (all only in British, Australian or New Zealand accents with the wine-whine merger)
• Rhymes: -ʌt

Pronoun

what

1. (interrogative) Which thing, event, circumstance, etc.: used interrogatively in asking for the specification of an identity, quantity, quality, etc.

   What is your address?

   You told them what?

2. (UK, colloquial) An interrogative which asks "Don't you agree?"

   It's rather late, what?

3. (relative, nonstandard) That; which.
   • 1902, J. M. Barrie, The Admirable Crichton

     That’s her; that’s the thing what has stole his heart from me.

4. (relative) That which; those that; the thing that.

   He knows what he wants.

   What is tossed upward falls back down.

Translations

interrogative pronoun

• Afrikaans: wat (af)
• Albanian: çfarë (sq), ç' (sq)
• American Sign Language: Claw5@SideTrunkhigh-PalmUp-Claw5@SideTrunkhigh-PalmUp Sidetoside-Sidetoside
• Arabic: ماذا (ar) (māḏā), ما (ar) (mā)

  Egyptian Arabic: ايه (ēh)

  Iraqi Arabic: شنو (šunu)

  Moroccan Arabic: اشنو (ʾašnū)

  Palestinian: إيش (ʾēš)

  Syrian: شو (šū)

• Armenian: ինչ (hy) (inč)
• Aromanian: tsi (rup)
• Asturian: qué (ast)
• Azeri: nə (az)
• Bakhtiari: چی (čē), چه (čē)
• Balinese: apa
• Bashkir: ни (ni), нимә (nimä)
• Basque: zer (eu)
• Belarusian: што (be) (što)
• Bengali: কি (bn) (ki)
• Bikol: ano
• Breton: petra (br)
• Bulgarian: какво (bg) (kakvó), що (bg) (što) n
• Burmese: ဘာ (my) (ba)
• Butuanon: ngan
• Catalan: què (ca)
• Cebuano: unsa
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 乜嘢 (mātyẹ́, mīyẹ), 咩 (mẹ́), 什麼, 什么 (sam6 mo1) (literary)

  Mandarin: 什麼 (cmn), 什么 (cmn) (shénme), 啥 (cmn) (shá) (Northern dialect), 何 (cmn) (hé)

  Wu: 啥 (sa)

• Chuvash: мĕн (měn)
• Czech: co (cs)
• Dalmatian: co
• Danish: hvad (da)
• Dutch: wat (nl)
• Esperanto: kio (eo)
• Estonian: mis (et), mida (et)
• Faroese: hvat (fo)
• Finnish: mikä (fi), mitä (fi)
• French: quoi (fr), quel (fr) m
• Friulian: ce
• Galician: que (gl)
• Gamilaraay: minya
• Georgian: რა (ka) (ra)
• German: was (de)
• Gothic: 𐍈𐌰 (ƕa)
• Greek: τί (el) (ti)
• Hawaiian: aha
• Hebrew: מה (he) (ma)
• Hiligaynon: ano
• Hindi: क्या (hi) (kyā)
• Hungarian: mi (hu)
• Ibanag: anni
• Icelandic: hvað (is)
• Ido: quo (io), quon (io)
• Ilocano: ania
• Indonesian: apa (id)
• Interlingua: qual (ia)
• Irish: cad (ga), céard (ga)

  Old Irish: cid

• Italian: che cosa (it), che (it), cosa (it)
• Japanese: 何 (ja) (なに, nani) (when used alone), なん (ja) (nan) (when used with another word)
• Kannada: ಏನು (kn) (ēnu)
• Kapampangan: nanu
• Karelian: mis
• Kazakh: не (kk) (ne)
• Khmer: អី (km) (’əy), អ្វី (km) (’vǝy), ស្អី (km) (s’əy)
• Korean: 무엇 (ko) (mueot), 뭐 (ko) (mwo)
• Krio: wetin
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: چی (ku)

• Kyrgyz: эмне (ky) (emne), не (ky) (ne)
• Lao: ຫຍັງ (lo) (ñang)
• Latin: quid (la)
• Latvian: kas (lv) (who and what)
• Lithuanian: kas (lt) (who and what)
• Malay:

  Rumi: apa (ms)

  Jawi: اڤ (ms)

• Malayalam: എന്ത് (ml) (ent)
• Maltese: xiex (mt), x' (mt)
• Manx: cre (gv)
• Maori: aha (mi)
• Marathi: काय (mr) (kāy)
• Mari: мо
• Moksha: мезе
• Mongolian: юу (mn) (juu)
• Navajo: haʼátʼíísh, daa
• Neapolitan: quale, che cosa
• Ngarrindjeri: minye
• Norwegian: hva (no)
• Old Dutch: wat
• Old English: hwæt (ang)
• Old Frisian: hwet
• Old Saxon: hwat
• Oriya: କଣ (or) (kaṇa)
• Pangasinan: anto
• Persian: چه (fa) (če), چی (fa) (či)
• Pipil: tay
• Polish: co (pl)
• Portuguese: o que (pt)
• Rapa Nui: aha
• Romanian: ce (ro)
• Russian: что (ru) (čto) (read: što)
• Scots: whit
• Scottish Gaelic: dè (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: што̏ (sh), шта̏ (sh)

  Roman: štȍ (sh), štȁ (sh)

• Sicilian: chi (scn)
• Sinhalese: මොකක්ද (si) (mokakda)
• Slovak: čo (sk)
• Slovene: káj (sl)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: co

• Spanish: qué (es), cuál (es)
• Swedish: vad (sv)
• Tagalog: ano (tl)
• Tajik: чӣ (tg) (čī)
• Talysh:

  Asalemi: چی (ci), چیچی (cici), چه (cə)

• Tamil: என்ன (ta) (eṉṉa)
• Taos: híli
• Tatar: ни (tt) (ni)
• Tausug: unu
• Telugu: ఏమిటి (te) (ēmiṭi)
• Thai: อะไร (th) (à-rai), ยังไง (th) (yang-ngai)
• Turkish: ne (tr)
• Turkmen: näme (tk)
• Ugaritic: 𐎎𐎅 (mh)
• Ukrainian: що (uk) (ščo)
• Urdu: كيا (ur) (kyā)
• Uyghur: نېمە (ug) (nëme)
• Uzbek: nima (uz)
• Vietnamese: gì (vi)
• Volapük: (nominative) kis (vo), (accusative) kisi (vo)
• Võro: miä
• Waray-Waray: ano
• Welsh: beth (cy)
• Yiddish: וואָס (yi) (vos)
• Yola: fade

relative pronoun

• French: ce que (fr), ce qui (fr)
• Haitian Creole: sa
• Italian: quello che (it)
• Japanese: 物 (ja) (mono), の (ja) (no), こと (ja) (koto)
• Latin: quod (la) n

• Neapolitan: chello ca
• Portuguese: o que (pt)
• Rapa Nui: aha
• Spanish: lo que (es)

nonstandard relative pronoun

• Dutch: dat (nl), wat (nl)
• German: der (de) m, die (de) f, das (de) n
• Hebrew: (prefix) ש (he) (she)
• Hungarian: mi (hu), ami (hu), mit (hu) accusative, amit (hu) accusative
• Latin: quod (la)
• Malay: benda (ms), perkara (ms)

• Russian: который (ru) (kotóryj), что (ru) (što)
• Slovene: kàj (sl), kàr (sl)
• Swedish: som (sv)
• Ukrainian: який (uk) (jakyj), що (uk) (ščo)
• West Frisian: dy't (fy)

Adverb

what (not comparable)

1. In some manner or degree; in part; partly; usually followed by with.

   What with singing and joking, the time passed quickly.

2. Such; this is; that is.

   What a pity.

   What a beautiful day!

3. (obsolete) Why?
   • (Can we date this quote?) Chaucer

     What should I tell the answer of the knight?

   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

     But what do I stand reckoning upon advantages and gains lost by the misrule and turbulency of the prelates?

4. (now rare) Used to introduce each of two coordinate phrases or concepts; both...and.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book III:

     and so they rode fresshly with grete royalte, what by water and what by land, tyl that they came nyghe vnto london.

Synonyms

• such

Translations

in some manner

such

• Asturian: qué (ast)
• Catalan: que (ca)
• Czech: jaký (cs)
• French: quel (fr) m, quelle (fr) f (without an indefinite article)
• German: was für (de), so (de)
• Hebrew: איזה (he) (éize) m
• Interlingua: qual (ia)

• Japanese: 何と (ja) (nanto)
• Polish: co (pl) za
• Russian: какой/какая/какое (kakój/kakája/kakóje) m/f/n, что за (što za)
• Slovene: kakó (sl), kákšen (sl)
• Spanish: qué (es)
• Swedish: vad (sv), så (sv) (uncountable), sådan (sv) (countable)

why

See translations at why.

• Malay: kenapa (ms)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Cantonese: 咁 (gam), 真係/真系 (jān hai), 的確係/的确系 (dīkkok hai), 真正係/真正系 (jānjing hai)
• Estonian: kui, milline, selline
• German: was für, wie, so
• Hungarian: micsoda, milyen
• Indonesian: apa
• Italian: che

• Portuguese: que
• Spanish: qué

Translations

that which; those that; the thing that

• Armenian: ինչ (hy) (inč)
• Bulgarian: какво (bg) (kakvo)
• Czech: co (cs)
• Dutch: wat (nl)
• Esperanto: ke (eo), kiu (eo)
• Estonian: mida (et)
• Finnish: mikä (fi)
• French: ce que (fr), ce qui (fr)
• German: was (de)
• Hiligaynon: ano
• Hungarian: mi (hu), mit (hu) (accusative)
• Italian: ciò che (it), quello che (it), cosa (it)

• Norwegian: hva (no)
• Polish: to, co (pl)
• Portuguese: o que (pt)
• Romanian: care (ro)
• Russian: что (ru) (što), то, что (ru) (to, što)
• Scots: whit
• Scottish Gaelic: dè (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian: što (sh), šta (sh)
• Slovene: kàj (sl)
• Spanish: lo que (es)
• Swedish: vad (sv)
• Tagalog: ano (tl)

Interjection

what

1. An expression of surprise or disbelief.
   • 1605 Wm. Shakespeare, King Lear

     What, have his daughters brought him to this pass?

   What! That’s amazing.

2. (UK, colloquial, dated) Is that not true?

   It’s a nice day, what? (sometimes repeated, e.g.: What-what?)

Translations

expression of surprise

• Bulgarian: какво! (kakvo)
• Czech: cože?
• Dutch: wat!
• Estonian: mida?, mis?, misasja?, kuidas?
• Finnish: mitä! (1)
• French: quoi !, comment !
• German: was!
• Greek: τι;
• Hebrew: מה? (ma)
• Hungarian: mi? (1)
• Icelandic: ha? (is)
• Indonesian: apa (id)

• Italian: cosa (it)
• Japanese: 何 (ja) (なに, nani)
• Malay: apa (ms)
• Polish: co!
• Portuguese: o quê?
• Russian: как! (ru) (kak!), что! (ru) (što!)
• Slovak: čo (sk)
• Slovene: káj! (sl), a rés! (sl)
• Spanish: ¡qué! ¿no?
• Swedish: va! (sv)
• Tagalog: ano (tl), ha (tl)

Determiner

what

1. Which; which kind of.

   What shirt are you going to wear?

   What time is it?

   What kind of car is that?

2. How much; how great (used in an exclamation).

   What talent he has!

   What a talent!

Translations

which

• Armenian: ինչ (hy) (inč), որ (hy) (or)
• Burmese: ဘာ (my) (ba)
• Czech: jaký (cs)
• Estonian: mis (et)
• Finnish: mikä (fi)
• French: quel (fr) m
• German: welche(r,s)
• Haitian Creole: ki
• Hebrew: איזה (he) ('éyze)
• Hungarian: milyen (hu), melyik (hu)
• Italian: che (it)
• Latin: qui (la) m, quae (la) f, quod (la) n

• Polish: który (pl) m, która (pl) f, które (pl) n (which of certain choices); jaki (pl) m, jaka (pl) f, jakie (pl) n (which kind of)
• Romanian: ce (ro)
• Russian: который/которая/которое (kotóryj/kotóraja/kotóroje) m/f/n, какой/какая/какое (kakój/kakája/kakóje) m/f/n
• Scots: whit
• Scottish Gaelic: dè (gd) (+definite article)
• Slovene: kákšen (sl), kóliko (úra) (sl)
• Spanish: qué (es), cuál (es)
• Swedish: vilken (sv) (which of, which kind of), vad för (sv) (which kind of)
• Tagalog: alin (tl), ano (tl)

how much

• Armenian: ինչպիսի (hy) (inčpisi)
• Czech: jaký (cs)
• Finnish: mikä (fi), millainen (fi)
• French: quel (fr) m
• Hiligaynon: ano
• Hungarian: milyen (hu), micsoda (hu), mekkora (hu)

• Italian: quanto (it)
• Russian: какой/какая/какое (kakój/kakája/kakóje) m/f/n
• Slovene: kákšen (sl)
• Spanish: menudo (es)
• Swedish: vilken (sv), sådan (sv)
• Tagalog: ano (tl)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: welk
• Esperanto: kiu
• Estonian: milline
• Hindi: (kyun)
• Norwegian: hvilken

• Portuguese: qual, que
• Romanian: ce
• Slovak: čo
• Telugu: ఏ (ae)

Derived terms

Terms derived from the pronoun, adverb, interjection, or determiner what

wat what ho

whatness

what's what

Noun

what (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) something; thing; stuff
   • Spenser

     They prayd him sit, and gave him for to feed / Such homely what as serves the simple clowne, / That doth despise the dainties of the towne […]

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: up · your · any · #59: what · do · has · could

Anagrams

• hawt, thaw, wath