how do you do

English

Alternative forms

• how-do-you-do, how-d'ye-do (noun)

Phrase

how do you do?

1. (formal) a greeting used meeting somebody. Alternatives are pleased to meet you and nice to meet you. Often not actually meant as a question (depends on the region).
   • 1913 Eleanor Porter: Pollyanna: Chapter 8:

     "How do you do?" began Pollyanna politely. "I'm from Miss Polly Harrington, and I'd like to see Mrs. Snow, please."

Related terms

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

Translations

Phrase: how do you do

• Abkhaz: (to a woman) бышҧаҟоу (bəšpāq̇ou), (to a man) ушҧаҟоу (ušpāq̇ou), (to more than one person) шәышҧаҟақоу (š°əšpāq̇ākou)
• Arabic: تَشَرَّفْنَا‎‎ (tašarrafnā)
• Catalan: encantat m, encantada f, encantat de coneixe't
• Chinese: 你好、您好

  Cantonese: 幸會, 幸会

  Mandarin: 幸會 (zh), 幸会 (zh) (xìnghuì), 初次見面, 初次见面 (chūcì jiànmiàn), 請多關照 (zh), 请多关照 (zh) (qǐng duō guānzhào), 您好 (zh) (nínhǎo)

• Czech: těší mě
• Dutch: hoe maakt u het
• 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 (chaíro polý)

• Hiligaynon: kamusta
• Indonesian: apa kabar? (id)
• Italian: piacere di conoscerla m, f
• 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)
• Korean: 안녕하십니까 (annyeong-hasimnikka)
• Macedonian: мило ми е (milo mi e), драго ми е (drago mi e)
• Navajo: nizhónígo ałhééhosiilzįįd
• Norwegian: hyggelig å møte deg, hvordan har du det
• Persian: از آشنایی شما خوشوقتم‎‎ (az ashenaeiyeh shoma khoshvaghtam)
• Portuguese: muito prazer
• Romanian: mă bucur să te cunosc, e o plăcere să te cunosc
• 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?
• Tagalog: kumusta (tl)

Noun

how do you do (plural how do you dos)

1. (Britain, 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 is a bit of a how-do-you-do, is it not?"