how do you do

English

Alternative forms

• how-do-you-do, how-d'ye-do, how-de-do (noun)

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Phrase

how do you do?

1. (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."

Usage notes

This phrase can be inflected: "I asked him how he was doing" or (obsolete) "I asked him how he did".

Related terms

• how are you doing (less formal)
• howdy (informal)

Translations

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)

Noun

how do you do (plural how do you dos)

1. (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?"