what

Meaning

Det

1. (interrogative) Which, especially which of an open-ended set of possibilities.
2. (indirect, interrogative) Which.
3. (relative) Any ... that; all ... that; whatever.
4. 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'.
5. 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'.

Pron

1. (interrogative) Which thing, event, circumstance, etc.: used in asking for the specification of an identity, quantity, quality, etc.
2. That which; those that; the thing(s) that.
3. Anything that; all that; whatever.
4. (nonstandard, relative) That; which; who.

Adv

1. (interrogative, not-comparable) In what way; to what extent.
2. (not-comparable) 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.

Intj

1. An expression of surprise or disbelief.
2. What do you want? An abrupt, usually unfriendly enquiry as to what a person desires.
3. (British, abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, colloquial, dated) Clipping of what do you say?, used as a type of tag question to emphasise a statement and invite agreement, often rhetorically.
4. What did you say? I beg your pardon? This usage is often considered impolite, with the more polite "Pardon?" or "Excuse me?" preferred.
5. Indicating a guess or approximation, or a pause to try to recall information.

Noun

1. (obsolete, uncountable) Something; thing; stuff.
2. (countable) The identity of a thing, as an answer to a question of what.
3. (countable) Something that is addressed by what, as opposed to a person, addressed by who.

Particle

1. (Manglish, Singlish) Emphasizes the truth of an assertion made to contradict an evidently false assumption held by the listener.
2. (Manglish, Singlish) 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”.
3. (Manglish, Singlish) Used after a direct assertion to reinforce a disagreeing opinion.

Synonyms

which

how

who

something

that

what kind of

why

huh

whatever

where

that which

what sort of

eh

whom

say what

that is

what kind

whatsoever

when

no way

pardon

alas

seriously

hey

👋

any

thing

this is

what a

what for

what the fuck

whereby

with what

wow

WTF

in what manner

such and such

what sort

what amount

what is it

what do you want

can it be that

what is the matter

what did you say

is that so

I didn't catch ya'

any kind of

anything

as much as

what are the items

everything

Translations

was

qué

quoi

wat

che

quel

que

que

cosa

che cosa

τι

ce que

ce qui

que

Pronounced as (IPA)

/wʌt/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: what

Inherited from Old English: hwæt

Cognate with Scots: whit

Cognate with Northern Frisian: wat

Cognate with Saterland Frisian: wat

Cognate with Western Frisian: wat

Cognate with Dutch: wat

Cognate with Low German: wat

Cognate with German: was

Cognate with Danish: hvad

Cognate with Norwegian Bokmål: hva

Cognate with Swedish: vad

Cognate with Norwegian Nynorsk: kva

Cognate with Icelandic: hvað

Cognate with Latin: quod

In summary

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 contradictory particle in colloquial Singaporean and Malaysian English is analogous to 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.

Sentences

Well , what of that ?

What do you think of him ?

Now what do you say ?

What is today ?

" What are these things ?" he asked .

What a strange kind of person !