From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
how do you do?
- (formal, dated) A greeting used upon being introduced to someone. Alternatives are how are you, pleased to meet you, and nice to meet you. (Sometimes used as a rhetorical question among familiar parties, depending on the region).
1913, Eleanor H. Porter, chapter 8, in Pollyanna[1], L.C. Page, →OCLC:"How do you do?" began Pollyanna politely. "I'm from Miss Polly Harrington, and I'd like to see Mrs. Snow, please."
This phrase can be inflected: "I asked him how he was doing" or (obsolete) "I asked him how he did".
Phrase: how do you do
- Abkhaz: (to a woman) бышҧаҟоу (bəŝpaqʼow), (to a man) ушҧаҟоу (uŝpaqʼow), (to more than one person) шәышҧаҟақоу (ŝʷəŝpaqʼakow)
- Arabic: تَشَرَّفْنَا (tašarrafnā)
- Asturian: encantáu (ast) (said by a male), encantada (ast) (said by a female), Encantáu de coñocete, ¿Cómu tás?
- Catalan: encantat (ca) m, encantada (ca) f, encantat de coneixe't
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 幸會 / 幸会 (hang6 wui6)
- Mandarin: 幸會 / 幸会 (zh) (xìnghuì), 請多關照 / 请多关照 (zh) (qǐng duō guānzhào), 您好 (zh) (nínhǎo), 初次見面 / 初次见面 (chūcì jiànmiàn)
- Czech: těší mě
- Danish: goddag (da), (det) glæder mig
- Dutch: hoe gaat het, hoe gaat het met jou (informal), hoe gaat het met u (formal), hoe maakt u het (formal, dated)
- Estonian: kuidas läheb
- Faroese: hvussu gongur
- Finnish: hyvää päivää (fi)
- French: enchanté (fr) m, enchantée (fr) f
- Galician: encantado m
- German: sehr erfreut, sehr angenehm, wie geht es dir (de)
- Greek: χαίρω πολύ (el) (chaíro polý)
- Hiligaynon: kamusta
- Hungarian: örvendek (hu), örvendek a szerencsének (hu), örülök, hogy megismerhetem (hu)
- Indonesian: apa kabar? (id)
- Italian: piacere di conoscerla m or f, come va, tutto bene
- Japanese: 初めまして (ja) (はじめまして, hajimemashite), (very formal) 始めてお目にかかります (はじめておめにかかります, hajimete o-me ni kakarimasu), 御機嫌よう, ご機嫌よう (ごきげんよう, gokigen yō)
- Kazakh: сәлеметсіз бе (sälemetsız be), амансыз ба (amansyz ba)
- Korean: 안녕하십니까 (annyeong-hasimnikka)
- Latin: quid agis? (said to one person), quid agitis? (said to more than one person)
- Macedonian: мило ми е (milo mi e), драго ми е (drago mi e)
- Navajo: nizhónígo ałhééhosiilzįįd
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: formal: gleder meg (literally “I am pleased (to meet you)”), more informal: hyggelig å møte deg, hvordan har du det
- Persian: از آشنایی شما خوشوقتم (az âšenâyi-ye šomâ xošvaqtam)
- Polish: jak się masz (pl) (informal, to a singular listener), jak się macie (informal, to many listeners), jak leci (pl) (colloquial), jak tam (pl) (informal)
- Portuguese: muito prazer
- Russian: о́чень прия́тно (óčenʹ prijátno), как дела́? (ru) (kak delá?), прия́тно познако́миться (prijátno poznakómitʹsja)
- Spanish: encantado (es) (said by a male), encantada (es) (said by a female), ¿cómo está usted?
- Swedish: hur står det till (formal), hur är det med dig (informal)
- Tagalog: kumusta (tl)
- Tillamook: dəʔ šʔálen̓əxʷš
- Turkish: nasılsınız (formal), ne var ne yok (informal)
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how do you do (plural how do you dos)
- (UK, euphemistic) A difficult situation
1993, Nick Park, Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers:Well, this is a fine how do you do isn't it, Gromit?
2010, Michael Sledge, The More I Owe You: A Novel, Counterpoint Press, →ISBN, page 78:On the winding road to Petropolis, they did not speak, not about modernism or the construction of houses or antique bird jails or fine how-do-you-dos.
2013, Chris Raschka, Seriously, Norman!, Scholastic Inc., →ISBN, page 115:"Vienna!" Mr. B. went on. "This is a bit of a how-do-you-do, is it not?"