what

CEFRA1

/wɒt/

pronoun · determiner

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
pronoun
Used to ask about a thing, fact, or action.
02
pronoun
Extra detail
Any ... that; all ... that; whatever.

Examples

Afterwards she was sorry for what she'd said.
I just don't know what to say.

At a glance

Sits at A1 on the CEFR scale

Senses: 5
Parts of speech: 2
Citations: 5
Synonyms: 5

Also pronounced

/hɒt/
/wʱɔʈ/

Deep Dive

determiner

Extra meanings

Which, especially which of an open-ended set of possibilities.
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'.
Used to form exclamations indicating that something is remarkable, in either a good or bad way.

More examples

In context

That was probably what influenced their decision.
What colour are you going to use?
What kind of car is that?

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Could you please tell me blank time the important meeting starts tomorrow?

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Nearby

Citations

The word in print, with each source given in full.

Everyone always asks what my advice is, and my advice is don’t overintellectualize your art.
2022 October 14, Justin Curto, “The 1975’s Matty Healy Prefers Writing Lyrics He’s Afraid Of”, in Vulture, archived from the original on 18 Oct 2022
He crammed what little food was left, into the breast of his grey jacket.
1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter III, in Great Expectations […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 40
What, have his daughters brought him to this pass?
c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)
In short; what by the indiscretion of people here, what by the rebound which came often back from London, what by the private interests and ambitious views of persons in the French court, and what by other causes unnecessary to be examined now, the most private transactions came to light [...]
1787, Henry St. John, Lord Viscount Bolingbroke, Letters on the Study and Use of History: A Letter to Sir William Windham, page 83
The emphasis on the interplay between the hows and whats of interpretive practice is paramount.
2005, Norman K. Denzin, Yvonna S. Lincoln, The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research, page 493

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Origin

pronoun

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 Singaporean English is analogous to Cantonese 喎 /㖞 (wo³, etymology 2, sense 3). It...