why
Language: English
Part of speech: intj
Pronunciation: ipa: /wæ/
enpr: hwī
enpr: wī
ipa: /waɪ/
ipa: /ʍaɪ/
rhymes: -aɪ
homophone: wye
homophone: Y
homophone: y (wine–whine merger)
Etymology: 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.
Senses: examples: text: Why, that’s ridiculous!
text: Why, how kind of you!
text: Why yes, that’s true.
text: VVhy Child, I tell thee if I vvas thy Mmother I ſhould not diſovvn thee; Don't you ſee I am as kind to you as if I vvas your Mother?
ref: 1724, [Daniel Defoe], The Fortunate Mistress; […] [Roxana], London: […] E. Applebee, […], published 1740, →OCLC, page 242:
english: Roxana
translation: Roxana
glosses: An exclamation used to express pleasant or unpleasant mild surprise, indignation, or impatience.
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: because is why
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: for why
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: one will know the reason why
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: that's why
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: thirteenth reason why
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: this is why we can't have nice things
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: why am I not surprised
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: why and wherefore
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: why aye
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: why buy a book when you can join a library
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: why buy a book when you can join the library
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: why come
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: whyever
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: why for
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: why God invented
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: why in God's name
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: why in the world
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: why in time
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: why is the ocean near the shore
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: why keep a dog and bark yourself
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: why me
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: why-not
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: why not
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: why not Zoidberg
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: why oh why
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: why on Earth
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: whys and wherefores
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: why the Devil
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: why the dickens
sense: Terms derived from the adverb, conjunction, noun, or interjection why
word: why the fuck