what's up

English

Etymology

Made popular by the cartoon character Bugs Bunny who used it as early as 1940 as part of his catch phrase “What’s up Doc?” (where each word was pronounced distinctly).

Alternative forms

• wassup, what up, waz up, wazzup, whassup, wuzzup, wussup, sup, wa'up, swa'up, what's good

Phrase

what’s up?

1. (idiomatic, colloquial) What are you doing?; what is happening?
2. (informal) How are you?; how are you feeling?
3. (idiomatic, colloquial) What’s the matter?
4. (rhetorical question, colloquial) A casual greeting with a meaning similar to how are you? or nice to meet you.

Synonyms

• (how are you?): wassup, wazzup, sup, ’sup, what up?, what’s happening?, what’s new?

Translations

informal, How are you?

• American Sign Language: Open8@Chest-PalmBack-Open8@Chest-PalmBack Open8@SideNeckhigh-PalmBack-Open8@SideNeckhigh-PalmBack
• Arabic:

  Egyptian Arabic: عامل ايه؟ (‪3aamil iih?)

• Danish: hvad så (da)?
• Dutch: wat is er (nl)?, hoe gaat het (nl)?
• Finnish: miten menee (fi)?, mitä kuuluu (fi)?, kuinkas hurisee (fi)?, mikä on (fi)?, mitäs [person's name]?
• French: quoi de neuf ? (fr)
• German: wie geht’s? (de), was läuft? (de), was geht? (de)
• Hebrew: מה קורה (he)
• Hungarian: mizu (hu)?, mizus (hu)? mizujs (hu)? (abbreviations of mi az újság?)
• Icelandic: hvað segist (is)?, hvað er að frétta (is)?, hvað er títt (is)?

• Latin: quid novi (la)?
• Luganda: eradde?, agafaayo?, agafa eyo? (to an intimate friend), mawulire ki?
• Navajo: haʼíí baa naniná?, ąąʼ haʼíí?
• Portuguese: e aí (pt)?
• Russian: как дела? (ru) (kak delá?), в чём дело? (ru) (v čom délo), что случилось? (ru) (što slučílos’?), чё-как (ru) (čo-kak)? (informal)
• Serbo-Croatian: (literary) što ima? (sh), (kajkavian dialect) kaj ima? (sh), (informal) šta ima? (sh), (rude) šta je? (sh)
• Slovene: kako si (sl), kje si? (sl), kaj bo dobrega? (sl), kako gre? (sl)
• Spanish: ¿qué tal (es)?
• Swedish: läget? (sv)
• Turkish: ne haber (tr)? (n'aber?)

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

• Arabic: مَهْيَمْ (máhyam)
• Hebrew: מה נשמע (he)
• Romanian: ce s-a întâmplat?

• Shona: ndeipi
• Slovene: kaj dogaja (sl)?
• Telugu: ఏం జరిగింది (te) (EM jarigiMdi), ఏమైంది (te) (EmaiMdi) (1); ఏంటి సంగతులు (te) (EMTi saMgatulu), ఏంటి కబుర్లు (te) (EMTi kaburlu), ఏంటి విశేషాలు (tr) (2)

See also

• what's up with
• Category:Greetings

References

What's up Doc by Gary Martin, phrases.org.uk.