how
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: enpr: hou
ipa: /haʊ/
ipa: /huː/
ipa: /haʊ/
ipa: /hʌʊ/
ipa: [həu̯]
ipa: /hæɔ/
ipa: /hæʊ/
ipa: /hæʊ/
rhymes: -aʊ
Forms: form: 'ow
form: hoo
Etymology: From Middle English how, hou, hu, hwu, from Old English hū, from Proto-West Germanic *hwō, from Proto-Germanic *hwō (“through what, how”), from the same root as hwæt (“who, what”). /hw/ > /h/ due to wh-cluster reduction in Old English; compare who, which underwent this change later, and thus is spelt wh (Middle English spelling of /hw/) but pronounced /h/ (it previously had a different vowel, hence avoided the spelling and sound change in Old English). Vowel change per Great Vowel Shift.
Akin to Scots hoo, foo (“how”), North Frisian ho, hü, hur (“how”), Saterland Frisian wo (“how”), West Frisian hoe (“how”), Dutch hoe (“how”), Low German ho, wo, wu (“how”), German wie (“how”), Swedish hur (“how”). See who and compare why.
Senses: examples: text: How often do you practice?
text: The gauge indicated how hot the oven was.
text: How soon can I see the doctor?
text: No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 46:
text: How damaged is her self-esteem?
ref: 2013, Diane Sullivan Everstine, Louis Everstine, Strategic Interventions for People in Crisis, Trauma, and Disaster: Revised Edition, Routledge, →ISBN:
glosses: To what degree or extent.
examples: text: Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too.[…]But as a foundation for analysis it is highly subjective: it rests on difficult decisions about what counts as a territory, what counts as output and how to value it. Indeed, economists are still tweaking it.
ref: 2013 August 3, “Boundary problems”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:
glosses: In what manner
examples: text: How do you solve this puzzle?
text: How else can we get this finished?
text: She showed him how to do it.
text: I remember how I solved this puzzle.
glosses: In what manner:
By what means.
examples: text: How should I know whether he likes raisins or not? Ask him!
glosses: In what manner:
With overtones of why, for what reason.
examples: text: People should be free to live how they want.
glosses: In what manner:
In any manner in which; in whatever way; however.
examples: text: How do you sell your brandy? We sell it by the gallon, and not by the bottle.
ref: 1831, Nicolas Wanostrocht, A Grammar of the French Language: With Practical Exercises, page 372:
text: How does God appear in these religions? Hinduism has a thousand faces for God, some likable, some horrible. You can pick and choose your preferred image. Buddhism does not even have an image of God, but concentrates on man.
ref: 2005, Tim Stafford, Knowing the Face of God, Revised Edition: Deepening Your Personal Relationship with God, Wipf and Stock Publishers, →ISBN, page 191:
glosses: In what manner:
In what form, shape, measure, quantity, etc.
examples: text: How the stock market interprets events has real consequences.
text: A heap of stamps? Yes. Stamps they were indeed, hundreds of penny Queen's Heads neatly mounted on the original sheets. "Good God!" exclaimed Mr. Erskine as he turned to Mr. Sackville, "how am I to take this, sir?" said he severely. "Where are the real stamps? Were they ever inside, ever in your possession at all? If it is a joke, it is a very poor one."
ref: 1906, Gibbons Stamp Weekly, page 110:
glosses: In what manner:
With what meaning or effect.
examples: text: "How art thou called? Thy name make known; Thy father's name and family,—tell me thy father's and thine own."
ref: 1907, Edward Byles Cowell, The Jātaka: Or, Stories of the Buddha's Former Births, page 44:
text: Salutation—How does one address the recipient; what titles, greetings, and honorifics are preferred; how does one manage the problem of unknown gender;[…]
ref: 2015, Edmond H. Weiss, The Elements of International English Style: A Guide to Writing Correspondence, Reports, Technical Documents, and Internet Pages for a Global Audience, Routledge, →ISBN, page 111:
glosses: In what manner:
By what title or what name.
examples: text: Shal. How a score of ewes now?
Sil. Thereafter as they be: a score of good ewes may be worth ten pounds.
ref: c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
glosses: In what manner:
At what price, for what amount (of money).
examples: text: How are you?
text: How was your vacation?
text: How's the new apartment? — The new apartment is great!
ref: 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
glosses: In what state or condition.
examples: text: How very interesting!
text: How wonderful it was to receive your invitation.
text: Those were such happy times and not so long ago / How I wondered where they'd gone
ref: 1973, “Yesterday Once More”, in Now & Then, performed by the Carpenters:
text: How England had to fight for victory against this steely Denmark with an inspired keeper in Kasper Schmeichel, especially after conceding their first goal of the tournament to Mikkel Damsgaard's stunning free-kick after 30 minutes.
ref: 2021 July 7, Phil McNulty, “England 2-1 Denmark”, in BBC Sport:
glosses: Used as a modifier to indicate surprise, delight, or other strong feelings in an exclamation.
Derived terms: and how
anyhow
any old how
ask how high when someone says jump
a straw shows how the wind blows
boo how doy
die how one lived
die just how one lived
don't teach your grandmother how to milk ducks
don't try to teach grandma how to suck eggs
everyhow
forhow
get it how one gets it
get it how one lives
get it how one lives it
how about
how about no
how about that
how about them apples
how are things
how are you
how are you diddling
how are you doing
how are you getting along
how are you going
how are you keeping
how bist
how came you so
how can you sleep at night
howcatchem
how come
how dare you
how did it go
how do
how do I get to
how do I get to the airport
how do I get to the bus station
how do I get to the train station
how do ye do
how do you do
how do you like
how do you like that
how do you like them apples
how do you mean
how do you pronounce this word
how do you say … in English
how do you sleep at night
how do you spell this word
how-d'ye-do
how embarrassment
how far
how farest thou
how goes it
how goes the battle
how goes the enemy
how goes the war
how long
how long is a piece of string
how many
how many languages do you speak
how many siblings do you have
how manyth
how much
how much does it cost
how much do I owe you
how much do you charge
how much is it
howness
how no
how now
how old are you
how say you
how see
how should I know
howso
how so
howsofar
how's your father
how the cow ate the cabbage
how the mighty have fallen
how the other half lives
how the sausage gets made
how the sausage is made
how the turntables
how the wind is blowing
how-to
how to
how-to-vote card
how very dare you
how would I know
how you say
it is how it is
it's not what you say but how you say it
know-how
know how many beans make five
know how to pick 'em
know how to walk before one can run
mind how you go
nohow
no matter how one slices it
how the land lies
silly-how
snow-how
somehow
teach grandma how to suck eggs
that's how the cookie crumbles