you-know-who

See also: You-Know-Who

English

WOTD – 26 May 2010

Alternative forms

• you know who
• You Know Who
• You-know-who
• You-Know-Who

Etymology

From you +‎ know +‎ who.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uː

Pronoun

you-know-who

1. Person or entity whose name one does not want to mention but which is known to the person to whom one is speaking.
   • 1885, W. S. Gilbert (lyrics), Arthur Sullivan (music), “The Mikado”:

     And 'St—'st—'st and What's-his-name, and also You-know-who / The task of filling up the blanks I'd rather leave to you.

Synonyms

• what's-his-name

Related terms

• you know
• you-know-what

Translations

known and unmentioned person

• Arabic: تَعْرِفُ مَن‎ (taʿrifu man) (said to m sg), تَعْرِفِينَ مَن‎ (taʿrifīna man) (said to f sg), تَعْرِفَانِ مَن‎ (taʿrifāni man) (said to c du), تَعْرِفُونَ مَن‎ (taʿrifūna man) (said to m pl), تَعْرِفْنَ مَن‎ (taʿrifna man) (said to f pl)
• Dutch: jeweetwel
• Estonian: tead küll kes
• Finnish: tiedät-kyllä-kuka (said to sg, of one person), tiedätte-kyllä-ketkä (formal to sg or said to pl, of several persons)
• French: tu sais qui, qui tu sais (fr) (said to c sg), vous savez qui, qui vous savez (fr) (formal to c sg or said to c pl)
• Georgian: გვარს არ დავასახელებ (gvars ar davasaxeleb)
• German: du-weißt-schon-wer
• Hebrew: אתה-יודע-מי‎ (ata-yodea-mi) (said to m sg), את-יודעת-מי‎ (at-yoda'at-mi) (said to f sg), אתם-יודעי-מי‎ (atem-yod'ei-mi) (said to m pl), אתן-יודעות-מי‎ (aten-yod'ot-mi) (said to f pl)
• Icelandic: þú-veist-hver

• Italian: lei-sa-chi (formal, to c sg), tu-sai-chi (said to c sg)
• Japanese: (phrase) 例の (れいの, rei no), くだんの (kudan no)
• Korean: 예의 (ko) (ye-ui), 건의 (geonui)
• Polish: wiesz kto, wiesz o kim mówię
• Portuguese: você-sabe-quem, quem-nós-sabemos
• Russian: сам зна́ешь кто (sam znáješʹ kto) (said to c sg, familiarly), са́ми зна́ете кто (sámi znájete kto) (said to c sg, courteously, or to c pl), изве́стно кто (izvéstno kto)
• Spanish: Fulano, Quien-usted-sabe, Mengano y Zutano
• Swedish: du-vet-vem (said to c sg, about one person), ni-vet-vem (said to c pl, about one person), du-vet-vilka (said to c sg, about multiple persons), ni-vet-vilka (said to c pl, about multiple persons)

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 Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} Jeweetwel
• Mandarin: (mainland) ^{(please verify)} 神秘人 (Shén-Mì-Rén), (Taiwan) ^{(please verify)} 那個人 (zh) (Nà-Gè-Rén)
• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} Veď-Vieš-Kto

• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} Quien-tú-sabes
• Vietnamese: ^{(please verify)} Kẻ-mà-ai-cũng-biết-là-ai-đấy