what
UK /wɒt/ · US /wɑt/ determiner, pronoun, adverb, interjection, noun, particle
Forms whats wha wat
- determiner (interrogative) Which, especially which of an open-ended set of possibilities. “What colour are you going to use?”
- determiner (indirect interrogative) Which. “I wonder what colour he is going to use.”
- determiner (relative) Any ... that; all ... that; whatever. “He seems to have lost what sense he had.”
- determiner Emphasises that something is noteworthy or remarkable in quality or degree, in either a good or bad way; may be used in combination with certain other determiners, especially 'a', less often 'some'. “This shows what beauty there is in nature.”
- determiner (exclamative) Used to form exclamations indicating that something is remarkable, in either a good or bad way. “What nonsense!”
- pronoun (interrogative) Which thing, event, circumstance, etc.: used in asking for the specification of an identity, quantity, quality, etc. “Hammer in that nail —What with? I didn't bring my set of tools.”
- pronoun (fused relative) That which; those that; the thing(s) that. “He knows what he wants and what to do to get it.”
- pronoun (fused relative) Anything that; all that; whatever. “I will do what I can to help you.”
- pronoun (relative, nonstandard or dialectal) That; which; who. “Look! It's that bloke again what was 'ere yesterday!”
- adverb (interrogative) In what way; to what extent. “What does it matter?”
- adverb Used before a prepositional phrase to emphasise that something is taken into consideration as a cause or reason; usually used in combination with 'with' (see what with), and much less commonly with other prepositions.
- interjection An expression of surprise or disbelief. “What! That’s amazing!”
- interjection What do you want? An abrupt, usually unfriendly enquiry as to what a person desires. “What? I'm busy.”
- interjection What did you say? I beg your pardon? This usage is often considered impolite, with the more polite "Pardon?" or "Excuse me?" preferred. “— Could I have some of those aarrrrrr mmmm ... — What?”
- interjection Indicating a guess or approximation, or a pause to try to recall information. “I must have been, what, about five years old.”
- noun (obsolete, uncountable) Something; thing; stuff.
- noun (countable) The identity of a thing, as an answer to a question of what.
- noun (countable) Something that is addressed by what, as opposed to a person, addressed by who.
- particle (Singlish, Manglish) Emphasizes the truth of an assertion made to contradict an evidently false assumption held by the listener. “— Sian sia, nearby here don’t have library. — The National Library is a five-minute walk from here what, no meh?”
- particle (Singlish, Manglish) Used to invite agreement or acknowledgment when something is assumed to be straightforward or already obvious to begin with; similar in function to “right?” and “as you know”. “If it doesn’t get sunlight, it won’t grow what, so you should consider moving it closer to the window.”
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English what, from Old English hwæt (“what”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwat, from Proto-Germanic *hwat (“what”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷód (“what”), neuter form of *kʷós (“who”).
Cognate with Scots what, whit (“what”), North Frisian wat (“what”), Saterland Frisian wat (“what”), West Frisian wat (“what”), Dutch wat (“what”), Low German wat (“what”), German was (“what”), Danish hvad (“what”), Norwegian Bokmål hva (“what”), Swedish vad (“what”), Norwegian Nynorsk kva (“what”), Icelandic hvað (“what”), Latin quod (“what, which”).
Its use as a particle of contradiction or objection in colloquial Malaysian and Singaporean Englishes is analogous to Malay apa and Cantonese 喎 /㖞 (wo³, etymology 2, sense 3). It is possible that this was historically reinforced by the dated use of what as a sentence-final question tag in British English.
Webster’s 1913
- pronoun As an interrogative pronoun, used in asking questions regarding either persons or things; as, what is this what did you say what poem is this what child is lost What see'st thou in the ground Shak.
- pronoun As an exclamatory word: -- (a) Used absolutely or independently; - -often with a question following. "What welcome be thou." Chaucer.
- noun Something; thing; stuff. [Obs.]
- Why For what purpose On what account [Obs.]
Etymology [AS. hwæt, neuter of hwa who; akin to OS. hwat what, OFries. hwet, D. & LG. wat, G. was, OHG. waz, hwaz, Icel. hvat, Sw. & Dan. hvad, Goth. hwa. sq. root182. See Who.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “what”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details