what
Language: English
Part of speech: pron
Pronunciation: note: wine–whine merger
enpr: wŏt
homophone: Watt
homophone: watt
homophone: wot
ipa: /wɒt/
ipa: /wɔt/
note: Indic
ipa: /wʱɔʈ/
note: father-bother merger
enpr: wät
ipa: /wɑt/
ipa: /wɑt/
ipa: /wɜt/
note: Indic
ipa: /wʱɑʈ/
note: without the wine–whine merger
enpr: hwŏt
ipa: /ʍɒt/
note: without the wine–whine merger
note: wine–whine merger
enpr: wŭt
ipa: /wʌt/
note: wine–whine merger
note: as a particle;wine–whine merger
ipa: [wɐ(ː)t̚˨˩]
note: without the wine–whine merger
enpr: hwŭt
ipa: /ʍʌt/
note: without the wine–whine merger
ipa: /hɒt/
homophone: hot
Etymology: 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.
Senses: examples: text: Hammer in that nail —What with? I didn't bring my set of tools.
text: What is your name?
text: My kids set the neighbor's cat on fire. —They did what?
text: Ask them what they want.
text: What d’you say that made him so angry?
text: I’ve broken the exhaust manifold gasket. - You’ve broken the what?
text: The gym is across from … what? — The gym is across from the lounge. — Across from the lounge. Right. Thanks!
ref: 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
glosses: Which thing, event, circumstance, etc.: used in asking for the specification of an identity, quantity, quality, etc.
examples: text: He knows what he wants and what to do to get it.
text: What is amazing is his boundless energy.
text: And, what's even worse, I have to work on Sunday too.
text: What is astonishing, she doesn't want the job. -What’s even more staggering, neither of her friends does either.
qualifier: fused relative
glosses: That which; those that; the thing(s) that.
examples: text: I will do what I can to help you.
text: What I'll do is, I'll phone you to let you know.
text: What is mine is yours.
qualifier: fused relative
glosses: Anything that; all that; whatever.
examples: text: Look! It's that bloke again what was 'ere yesterday!
text: "I'll tell it ye from the beginning," he said. "My time is from ten at night to six in the morning. At eleven there was a fight at the 'White Hart'; but bar that all was quiet enough on the beat. At one o'clock it began to rain, and I met Harry Murcher—him who has the Holland Grove beat—and we stood together at the corner of Henrietta Street a-talkin'. Presently—maybe about two or a little after—I thought I would take a look round and see that all was right down the Brixton Road. It was precious dirty and lonely. Not a soul did I meet all the way down, though a cab or two went past me. I was a strollin' down, thinkin' between ourselves how uncommon handy a four of gin hot would be, when suddenly the glint of a light caught my eye in the window of that same house. Now, I knew that them two houses in Lauriston Gardens was empty on account of him that owns them who won't have the drains seen to, though the very last tenant what lived in one of them died o' typhoid fever. I was knocked all in a heap therefore at seeing a light in the window, and I suspected as something was wrong. When I got to the door——"
ref: 1887, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet, page 60:
text: That’s her; that’s the thing what has stole his heart from me.
ref: 1902, J. M. Barrie, The Admirable Crichton:
text: A diploma in the waiting room revealed Big Boy to be a member of The American Association of Medical Hydrology, whatever that might be. Furthermore he was a deacon of the Royal Aryan Society for Positive Christianity and as such was privileged to throw in divine healing without extra charge. That went right along with the three-dollar treatment for a touch of the astral power and a short lecture on the latent powers possessed by all of us. “Pow-wers what vassly transent our normaller ones,” was just how Big Boy put it.
ref: 1949 November, Nelson Algren, “Rumors of Evening”, in The Man with the Golden Arm: A Novel, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, →OCLC, page 77:
text: For, it is a name what strikes fear in the heart of anyone what hears it.
ref: 2017, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2:
glosses: That; which; who.