What

Etymology
< hwæt: <  <  (which also gave us who:).

Cognate to many similar terms, such as quoi:; Germanic forms differ from Romance forms due to Grimm’s law of Germanic sound change.

Pronoun

 * 1)  which thing, event, circumstance, etc.: used interrogatively in asking for the specification of an identity, quantity, quality, etc.
 * What is your address?
 * You told them what?
 * 1)  An interrogative which asks "Don't you agree?"
 * It's rather late, what?
 * 1)  that; which
 * 2) * 1902, J. M. Barrie, The Admirable Crichton
 * That’s her; that’s the thing what has stole his heart from me.
 * 1)  that which; those that; the thing that
 * He knows what he wants.
 * What is tossed upward falls back down.

Translations

 * Albanian: ,
 * American Sign Language:
 * Arabic: ,
 * Egyptian Arabic:
 * Moroccan Arabic:
 * Palestinian: ('eesh)
 * Syrian: (shuu)
 * Armenian:
 * Balinese: apa
 * Bashkir: ,
 * Basque: zer
 * Belarusian:
 * Bengali: কি (ki)
 * Bikol: ano
 * Breton: petra
 * Bulgarian: какво,
 * Butuanon: ngan
 * Catalan:
 * Cebuano: unsa
 * Chinese:
 * Cantonese:, , ,
 * Mandarin:, ,  ,
 * Wu:
 * Chuvash:
 * Croatian: što
 * Czech:
 * Danish:
 * Dutch:
 * Esperanto:
 * Estonian: ,
 * Faroese:
 * Filipino:
 * Finnish: ,
 * French:, quel
 * Gamilaraay: minya
 * Georgian: რა
 * German:
 * Greek: τί
 * Hawaiian: aha
 * Hebrew:
 * Hiligaynon: ano
 * Hindi:
 * Hungarian:
 * Ibanag: anni
 * Icelandic:
 * Ido: quo,
 * Ilocano: ania
 * Indonesian:


 * Irish: ,
 * Italian: ,
 * Japanese: (, náni [when used alone];  nan [when used with another word])
 * Kapampangan: nanu
 * Karelian:
 * Korean:
 * Kurdish:
 * Kyrgyz: эмне
 * Latin:
 * Manx:
 * Maori:
 * Mari:
 * Moksha:
 * Mongolian: юу
 * Navajo:
 * Ngarrindjeri:
 * Norwegian:
 * Old Irish:
 * Pangasinan: anto
 * Persian: ,
 * Polish:
 * Portuguese:
 * Romanian:
 * Russian: (read: što)
 * Scots: whit
 * Scottish Gaelic:
 * Serbo-Croatian: шта, šta,  што,  što
 * Slovak:
 * Slovene:
 * Spanish: ,
 * Swedish:
 * Tagalog: ano
 * Taos: híli
 * Tatar:
 * Tausug: unu
 * Telugu: ఏమిటి (aemiTi)
 * Thai:, ยังไง
 * Turkish:
 * Ugaritic:
 * Ukrainian:
 * Urdu:
 * Uzbek: nima
 * Vietnamese:
 * Volapük: kis,  kisi
 * Võro:
 * Waray-Waray: ano
 * Welsh:


 * French: ,
 * Haitian Creole:
 * Japanese:, ,


 * Portuguese: o que
 * Spanish: lo que


 * Dutch: ,
 * German:, ,
 * Hebrew: ש
 * Hungarian:, , accusative,  accusative
 * Latin: quod


 * Russian: ,
 * Swedish:
 * Ukrainian: ,
 * West Frisian:

Adverb

 * 1) in some manner or degree; in part; partly; usually followed by with.
 * What with singing and joking, the time passed quickly.
 * 1) Such; this is; that is.
 * What a pity.
 * What a beautiful day!
 * 1)  Why?
 * 2)  Used to introduce each of two coordinate phrases or concepts; both...and.
 * 3) * 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book III:
 * and so they rode fresshly with grete royalte, what by water and what by land, tyl that they came nyghe vnto london.

Synonyms

 * such

Derived terms

 * what ho
 * whatness

Translations

 * Czech:
 * French:, (without an indefinite article)
 * German: was für, so
 * Hebrew:
 * Interlingua: qual


 * Japanese: 何と (nanto)
 * Russian: какой/какая/какое (kakój/kakája/kakóje) m/f/n, что за (što za)
 * Slovene:
 * Swedish: vad, så (uncountable), sådan (countable)


 * See translations at why.


 * : 咁 (gam), 真係/真系 (jān h a i), 的確係/的确系 (dīkkok h a i), 真正係/真正系 (jānjing h a i)
 * : kui, milline, selline
 * : was für, wie, so
 * : micsoda, milyen
 * : apa
 * : che


 * : co
 * : que
 * : qué

Translations

 * Armenian: ինչ (inč)
 * Bulgarian: какво (kakvo)
 * Czech:
 * Dutch:
 * Esperanto: ,
 * Estonian:
 * Filipino:
 * Finnish:
 * French: ,
 * German:
 * Hiligaynon:
 * Hungarian: mi, mit accusative
 * Italian: ciò che, quello che, cosa


 * Japanese: (no relative pronouns)
 * Norwegian:
 * Polish: to co
 * Portuguese:
 * Romanian:
 * Russian: что (što); то, что (to, što)
 * Scots: whit
 * Scottish Gaelic: dè
 * Serbo-Croatian: što, šta
 * Slovene:
 * Spanish: lo que
 * Swedish:
 * Tagalog: ano

Interjection

 * 1) an expression of surprise or disbelief.
 * What! That’s amazing.
 * 1)  is that not true?
 * It’s a nice day, what? (sometimes repeated, e.g.: What-what?)
 * 1)  greeting (archaic).
 * What ho, Frobisher!

Translations

 * Bulgarian: какво! (kakvo)
 * Czech: cože?
 * Dutch: wat!
 * Estonian: mida?, mis?, misasja?, kuidas?
 * Filipino: ,
 * Finnish: mitä! (1)
 * French: quoi !, comment !
 * German: was!
 * Greek: τι;
 * Hebrew: מה? (ma)
 * Hungarian: mi? (1)


 * Icelandic:
 * Indonesian:
 * Italian:
 * Japanese: 何 (なに, náni)
 * Polish: co!
 * Portuguese: o quê?
 * Russian: как! (kak); что ли? (što li)
 * Slovak:
 * Spanish: ¡qué! ¿no?
 * Swedish:
 * Tagalog: ,

Determiner

 * 1) which; which kind of.
 * What shirt are you going to wear?
 * What time is it?
 * What kind of car is that?
 * 1) how much; how great (used in an exclamation)
 * What talent he has!
 * What a talent!

Translations

 * Armenian: ,
 * Czech:
 * Estonian:
 * Filipino: ,
 * Finnish:
 * French:
 * German: welche(r,s)
 * Haitian Creole:
 * Hungarian: ,
 * Italian:


 * Latin:, ,
 * Polish:, , (which of certain choices); , ,  (which kind of)
 * Russian: который/которая/которое (kotóryj/kotóraja/kotóroje) m/f/n, какой/какая/какое (kakój/kakája/kakóje) m/f/n
 * Scots: whit
 * Scottish Gaelic: dè (+definite article)
 * Spanish: ,
 * Swedish: vilken (which of, which kind of), vad för (which kind of)
 * Tagalog: ,


 * Armenian: ինչպիսի
 * Czech:
 * Filipino:
 * Finnish: ,
 * French:
 * Hiligaynon:


 * Hungarian:, ,
 * Italian:
 * Russian: какой/какая/какое (kakój/kakája/kakóje) m/f/n
 * Spanish:
 * Swedish: vilken, sådan
 * Tagalog:


 * : welk
 * : kiu
 * : milline
 * : (kyun)
 * : hvilken


 * : (kana)
 * : qual, que
 * : ce
 * : čo
 * : ఏ (ae)

Anagrams

 * hawt, thaw, wath

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