why

Meaning

Adv

1. (interrogative, not-comparable) For what cause, reason, or purpose.
2. (interrogative, not-comparable) For what cause, reason, or purpose.
3. (interrogative, not-comparable) For what cause, reason, or purpose.
4. (interrogative, not-comparable) For what cause, reason, or purpose.
5. (not-comparable, relative) For which cause, reason, or purpose.
6. (not-comparable) The cause, reason, or purpose for which.

Noun

Reason.

Intj

An exclamation used to express pleasant or unpleasant mild surprise, indignation, or impatience.

Verb

To ask (someone) the question "why?".

Noun

A young heifer.

Noun

Alternative form of wye; the name of the Latin-script letter Y/y.

Synonyms

what for

for what reason

how come

how

wherefore

what

reason

for what purpose

for what

think

🤔

which

why is that

because

cause

in what way

whereby

when

whence

where

you know

you see

for which reason

the reason why

what the hell

for what cause

by what ? whence

it has no meaning

how can one tolerate

after all

interrogative particle

blame

but

enigma

fault

for

grain

occasion

puzzle

riddle

so

somehow

well

whatever

what kind of

what’s up

Translations

pourquoi

warum

perché

por qué

waarom

weshalb

wieso

weswegen

γιατί

porqué

por que

perquè

perche

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ʍaɪ/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: why

Inherited from Old English: hwȳ

Cognate with Old Saxon: hwī

Cognate with Middle High German: wiu

Cognate with Danish: -

Cognate with Norwegian Bokmål: -

Cognate with Norwegian Nynorsk: kvi

Cognate with Swedish: vi

Cognate with Faroese: -

Cognate with Icelandic: -

Cognate with Latin: quī

Cognate with Ukrainian: чи

Cognate with Polish: czy

Cognate with Czech: či

Cognate with Serbo-Croatian: či

Cognate with Old English: þȳ

In summary

From Middle English why, from Old English hwȳ (“why”), from Proto-Germanic *hwī (“by what, how”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷey, instrumental case of *kʷís (“who”), *kʷid (“what”).
Cognate with Old Saxon hwī (“why”), hwiu (“how; why”), Middle High German wiu (“how, why”), archaic Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hvi (“why”), Norwegian Nynorsk kvi (“why”), Swedish vi (“why”), Faroese and Icelandic hví (“why”), Latin quī (“why”), Doric Greek πεῖ (peî, “where”), Ukrainian чи (čy, “if”), Polish czy, Czech či (“or”), Serbo-Croatian či (“if”). Compare Old English þȳ (“because, since, on that account, therefore, then”, literally “by that, for that”). See thy.

Sentences

Why would I want to do that ?

Then why are you doing it ?

Why Study Popular Culture ?

She wanted to know why her name was not on the drawings of all the previous years .

Why does the ice cream truck keep playing such a sad song “ send in the clowns”?

Why don't you say something ?