why

English

Etymology 1

(deprecated template usage) From Middle English why, from Old English hwȳ, hwī (“why”, literally “by what, for what”), from Proto-Germanic *hwī (“by what, how”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷey, instrumental case of *kʷis (“who”), *kʷid (“what”). Cognate with Old Saxon hwī (“why”), hwiu (“how; why”), Middle High German wiu (“how, why”), archaic (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Danish and (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Norwegian Bokmål hvi (“why”), (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Norwegian Nynorsk kvi (“why”), (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Swedish vi (“why”), (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Faroese and (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Icelandic hví (“why”), Latin quī (“why”), Ancient Greek πεῖ (peî, “where”). Compare Old English þȳ (“because, since, on that account, therefore, then”, literally “by that, for that”). See thy.

Pronunciation

• enPR: hwī, wī, IPA^(key): /ʍaɪ/, /waɪ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

  (in accents without the "wine-whine" merger)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

  (in accents with the "wine-whine" merger)

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

  (in accents with the "wine-whine" merger)
• Rhymes: -aɪ
• Homophones: wye, Y, y (all only in accents with the wine-whine merger)

Adverb

why (not comparable)

1. For what cause, reason, or purpose (interrogative adverb).
   1. Introducing a complete question.

      Why is the sky blue?

      Why did you do that?

      I don’t know why he did that

      Tell me why the moon changes phase.

      • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

        Why do you have a map of the world?

        Audio (US):

        (file)

   2. Introducing a verb phrase (bare infinitive clause).

      Why spend money on something you already get for free?

      Why not tell him how you feel?

   3. Introducing a noun or other phrase.

      Why him? Why not someone taller?

2. For which cause, reason, or purpose (relative adverb).

   That's the reason why I did that.

   • 2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:

     Plastics are energy-rich substances, which is why many of them burn so readily. Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field.

Synonyms

• how come, wherefore, to what end

Translations

for what reason

• Abkhaz: ахьԥа (axʲpa), иахьԥа (jaxʲpa) (infix)
• Afrikaans: waarom
• Alabama: sáhmi
• Albanian: pse (sq), përse (sq)
• American Sign Language: OpenB@Sfhead Y@FromSfhead
• Amharic: ለምን (lämn)
• Arabic: لِمَاذَا (limāḏā), لِمَ (lima)

  Egyptian: ليه (lēh)

  Levantine: لِيش (lēš)

  Moroccan Arabic: علاش (ʕlāš), علياش (ʕlayāš), علاه (ʕlāh), لاش (lāš)

• Armenian: ինչու (hy) (inčʻu), խի (hy) (xi)

  Old Armenian: էր (ēr), հիմ (him), իմ (im), ընդէր (əndēr), էրում (ērum), զի (zi), զմէ (zmē)

• Assamese: কিয় (kio), কেলেই (kelei)
• Asturian: por qué (ast)
• Azerbaijani: niyə, nə üçün
• Bakhtiari: سیچی (sičē), سیچه (sičē)
• Bashkir: ни өсөн (ni ösön), ниңә (niñə)
• Basque: zergatik
• Belarusian: чаму́ (čamú)
• Bengali: কেন (keno)
• Bikol Central: ^{(please verify)} ta-no ta
• Breton: perak (br)
• Bulgarian: защо́ (bg) (zaštó)
• Burmese: ဘာဖြစ်လို့ (bhahpraclui.)
• Catalan: per què (ca)
• Cebuano: ngano
• Central Atlas Tamazight: ⵎⴰⵅ (mæḵ)
• Chechen: хӏунда (hunda)
• Cherokee: ᎦᏙᏃ (gadono)
• Chichewa: chifukwa chiyani
• Chickasaw: katimi ta
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 點解／点解 (dim² gaai²), 点解 (dim² gaai²), 為乜／为乜 (wai⁶ mat¹), 为乜 (wai⁶ mat¹), 做乜 (zou⁶ mat¹), 做乜嘢 (zou⁶ mat¹ je⁵), 做咩 (zou⁶ me¹)

  Dungan: виса (visa), захуэй (zahuey)

  Hakka: 做麼個／做么个, 做麼个, 做么个 (cho-mak-ke)

  Mandarin: 為甚麼／为甚么 (zh) (wèishénme)/為什麼／为什么 (zh) (wèishénme), 为什么 (zh) (wèishénme), 為啥／为啥 (zh) (wèishá), 为啥 (zh) (wèishá) (dialectal)

  Min Nan: 物代 (mih-tāi), 為甚物／为甚物/為什物／为什物, 为什物 (ūi-sím-mi̍h), 為啥物／为啥物, 为啥物 (ūi-siáⁿ-mih, ūi-siáⁿ-mi̍h, ūi-siáⁿ-mí), 是按怎 (sī-án-chóaⁿ, sī-án-nóa, sī-án-ná), 因何 (in-hô), 為何／为何 (zh-min-nan), 为何 (ūi-hô)

  Wu: 啥體／啥体 (⁵sa--thi), 啥体 (sa thi) (Shanghai), 為啥／为啥 (⁶we-sa), 为啥 (hhue sa)

• Chukchi: иаʼм
• Chuvash: мӗншӗн (mĕnš̬ĕn)
• Crimean Tatar: ne içün, ne sebepten
• Czech: proč (cs)
• Danish: hvorfor (da)
• Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: waarom (nl)
• Eastern Mari:
• Erzya: мекс (meks)
• Esperanto: kial (eo)
• Estonian: miks (et)
• Faroese: hví
• Finnish: miksi (fi)
• French: pourquoi (fr)

  Middle French: parquoy

• Georgian: რატომ (raṭom), რისთვის (ristvis)
• German: warum (de), wieso (de), weshalb (de), weswegen (de)
• Gothic: 𐌳𐌿𐍈𐌴 (duƕē)
• Greek: γιατί (el) (giatí)

  Ancient: τί (tí), διὰ τί (dià tí)

• Greenlandic: sooq
• Hawaiian: aha
• Hebrew: לָמָּה, לָמָה (he) (láma)
• Hiligaynon: ngaa
• Hindi: क्यों (hi) (kyõ), क्यूँ (kyū̃)
• Hungarian: miért (hu)
• Ibanag: ngatta
• Icelandic: af hverju (is), hví (is) (dated)
• Ido: pro quo (io)
• Ilocano: apay
• Indonesian: mengapa (id), kenapa (id)
• Irish: cad chuige, cén fáth
• Italian: perché (it)
• Japanese: 何故 (ja) (なぜ, naze), なんで (nande), どうして (dōshite), 何故 (ja) (なにゆえ, naniyue) (dated)
• Kannada: ಏಕೆ (kn) (ēke), ಯಾಕೆ (kn) (yāke)
• Kapampangan: obakit, bakit, obat, ot
• Karachay-Balkar: нек (nek)
• Kazakh: неге (kk) (nege)
• Khakas: ноға (noğa)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Khmer: ហេតុអ្វី (haet ʼaʼvəy), ហេតុអី (haet ʼəy)
• Kikuyu: nĩkĩ, nĩ ũndũ kĩ
• Korean: 왜 (ko) (wae)
• Krio: wetin mek
• Kumyk: неге (nege)
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: , , ,

  Sorani: ,

• Kyrgyz: эмне үчүн (emne ücün)
• Lao: ເປັນຫຍັງ (pen nyang)
• Latgalian: parkū, deļkuo
• Latin: cūr, quārē
• Latvian: kāpēc (lv), kādēļ, kālab
• Limburgish: boerum, veurwat, woerum
• Lithuanian: kodėl (lt)
• Luxembourgish: firwat
• Macedonian: зошто (mk) (zošto)
• Malay: mengapa, kenapa, kena apa, apa kena
• Malayalam: എന്തുകൊണ്ട് (ml) (entukoṇṭŭ)
• Maltese: għaliex
• Maori: please add this translation if you can
• Maranao: ngin, ngkaino
• Marathi: का (kā)
• Moksha: мес (mes)
• Mongolian: яагаад (mn) (jaagaad)
• Navajo: haʼátʼíísh biniinaa
• Neapolitan: pecché
• Nepali: please add this translation if you can
• Norman: pourtchi (Guernsey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hvorfor (no)

  Nynorsk: korfor, kvifor (nn)

• Novial:
• Ojibwe: aaniish, aaniin, aanishwin
• Oriya: please add this translation if you can
• Pangasinan: akin
• Persian: چرا (fa) (čerâ), برای چی (barâye či), برای چه (fa) (barâye če)
• Pitjantjatjara: nyaaku
• Polish: dlaczego (pl), czemu (pl), po co (pl), na co
• Portuguese: por que (pt)
• Romanian: de ce, pentru ce
• Russian: почему́ (ru) (počemú), заче́м (ru) (začém), отчего́ (ru) (otčevó)
• Sanskrit: किमर्थं (kimarthaṃ), कुत (sa) (kuta)
• Scots: why
• Scottish Gaelic: carson
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: за̏што

  Roman: zȁšto (sh)

• Sinhalese: ඇයි (æyi)
• Slovak: prečo
• Slovene: zakáj (sl)
• Spanish: por qué (es)
• Swahili: kwaje, mbona
• Swedish: varför (sv)
• Tagalog: bakit (tl)
• Tahitian: please add this translation if you can
• Tajik: чаро (čaro)
• Tamil: ஏன் (ta) (ēṉ)
• Tashelhit: ⵎⴰⵅ (mæḵ)
• Tatar: нигә (nigä), нар ни өчен (nar ni öçen)
• Tausug: mayta'
• Telugu: ఎందుకు (te) (enduku)
• Thai: ทำไม (th) (tam-mai), ไฉน (chà-nǎi)
• Tibetan: ག་རེ་བྱས་ནས (ga re byas nas)
• Tok Pisin: watpo
• Tongan: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: neden (tr), niçin (tr), niye (tr)
• Turkmen: üçin, näme üçin
• Tuvan: чүге (çüge), чоп (çop)
• Ukrainian: чому́ (čomú)
• Urdu: کیوں (kyõ, kyū̃)
• Uyghur: نېمە ئۈچۈن (nëme üchün)
• Uzbek: nega (uz)
• Veps: mihe
• Vietnamese: sao (vi), vì sao (vi), tại sao (vi)
• Volapük: kikodo (vo)
• Võro: mille
• Walloon: pocwè (wa)
• Waray-Waray: kay-ano
• Welsh: pam, paham (literary)
• West Frisian: wêrom
• Yakut: тоҕо (toğo), туохтан (tuoqtan), туох иһин (tuoq ihin)
• Yiddish: למאַי (lemay), פֿאַרוואָס (farvos)
• Yola: farthoo
• Yoruba: kilode
• Zazaki: çira

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Catalan: perquè (ca)
• Czech: proč (cs)
• Dalmatian: percó
• Danish: hvorfor (da)
• Dutch: waarom (nl), waarvoor (nl) (slang; wrong grammar used)
• Faroese: hví
• Finnish: miksi (fi)
• French: pourquoi (fr)
• Friulian: parcè
• German: warum (de)
• Hebrew: למה (he) (láma), מדוע (he) (madu‘a)
• Hungarian: miért (hu)
• Icelandic: af hverju (is)
• Italian: perché (it)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: ,

• Latin: quid (la)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latvian: kādēļ
• Macedonian: зошто (mk) (zošto)
• Malay: mengapa, kenapa
• Middle French: parquoy
• Norman: pourtchi (Guernsey)
• Occitan: perqué (oc)
• Polish: czemu (pl), dlaczego (pl)
• Portuguese: por que (pt), por quê (pt)
• Romanian: de ce
• Romansch: pertge
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: зашто

  Roman: zašto (sh)

• Slovak: prečo
• Slovene: zakáj (sl)
• Spanish: por que (es), por lo que

Noun

why (plural whies)

1. reason

   A good article will cover the who, the what, the when, the where, the why and the how.

Synonyms

• wherefore

Translations

the reason

• Armenian: պատճառ (hy) (patčaṙ)
• Bulgarian: причи́на (bg) f (pričína)
• Catalan: perquè (ca) m
• Danish: derfor (da)
• Dutch: waarom (nl) n
• Finnish: miksi (fi)
• German: warum (de)
• Greek: γιατί (el) n (giatí)
• Hebrew: למה (he) (láma), מדוע (he) (madu‘a)
• Hungarian: miért (hu)
• Icelandic: ástæða (is)
• Indonesian: mengapa (id), kenapa (id)
• Italian: perché (it)
• Japanese: 何故 (ja) (なぜ, naze), どうして (dōshite)
• Latin: cur
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latvian: kādēļ
• Macedonian: зошто (mk) (zošto), причина f (pričina)
• Malay: mengapa, kenapa
• Maltese: il-għala m
• Neapolitan: pecché
• Norwegian: derfor (no)
• Polish: powód (pl), dlaczego (pl)
• Portuguese: porquê (pt)
• Romanian: pentru ce
• Russian: причи́на (ru) f (pričína)
• Spanish: porqué (es) m
• Swedish: därför (sv)
• Uzbek: sabab (uz)

Interjection

why

1. An exclamation used to express indignation, mild surprise, or impatience.
   • (Can we date this quote by Daniel Defoe and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     “Why, child, I tell thee if I was thy mother I would not disown thee; don't you see I am as kind to you as if I was your mother?”

     Why, thank you!

Derived terms

Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why

• whyever
• why in God's name
• why not

• why on Earth
• whys and wherefores
• why the Devil

• why the dickens
• why the fuck

Translations

exclamation of surprise

• Bulgarian: ей (ej), хей (hej)
• Danish: hva', hov
• Dutch: wel (nl), nou (nl)
• Finnish: no mutta
• French: ha (fr), oh (fr), ah (fr)
• German: nanu (de), na (de)
• Hungarian: hát (hu), nos (hu), nocsak
• Icelandic: nú (is)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Malay: eh, eh
• Norwegian: hvorfor (no)
• Polish: ależ (pl), przecież (pl), toć
• Portuguese: uai (pt)
• Russian: ого́ (ru) (ogó), о (ru) (o), как (ru) (kak)
• Spanish: vaya (es)

Etymology 2

Noun

why (plural whies)

1. (UK, dialect) A young heifer.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Grose to this entry?)

Further reading

• “why”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “why”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• hwy, hwy.

---

Cornish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʍiː/, /ʍəɪ/

Pronoun

why

1. (Standard Cornish, Standard Written Form) you (formal or plural)