when
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: enpr: hwĕn
enpr: wĕn
ipa: /ʍɛn/
ipa: /wɛn/
ipa: /ʍɪn/
ipa: /wɪn/
enpr: hwĕn
ipa: /ʍɛn/
enpr: wĕn
ipa: /wɛn/
rhymes: -ɛn
homophone: wen (wine–whine merger)
homophone: win (wine–whine merger, pin–pen merger)
Forms: form: wen
Etymology: From Middle English when(ne), whan(ne), from Old English hwonne, from Proto-West Germanic *hwannē, from Proto-West Germanic *hwan, from Proto-Germanic *hwan (“at what time, when”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷís (interrogative base).
Cognate with Scots whan (“when”), Dutch wanneer (“when”), wan (“when”) and wen (“when, if”), Low German wannehr (“when”), wann (“when”) and wenn (“if, when”), German wann (“when”) and wenn (“when, if”), Gothic 𐍈𐌰𐌽 (ƕan, “when, how”), Latin quandō (“when”). More at who.
Interjection sense: a playful misunderstanding of "say when" (i.e. say something / speak up when you want me to stop) as "say [the word] when".
Senses: examples: text: When will they arrive?
text: Do you know when they arrived?
text: I don't know when they arrived.
text: When they arrived is unknown.
text: What words are used as interrogative pronouns? — Give examples.
When are the words, what, which, and that, called adj. pron.?
When are they called interrogative pronominal adjectives?
ref: 1834, Samuel Kirkham, English Grammar in Familiar Lectures, page 117:
glosses: At what time? At which time? Upon which occasion or circumstance? Used to introduce direct or indirect questions about time.
examples: text: The site's all bugged. Fix when?
text: Tank class buff when?
text: My fridge even restocks itself these days. Glorious AI overlords when?
text: New patch when??
ref: 2020 December 4, u/Woebn, “Why did Treant fell in love with Aiushtha?”, in Reddit, r/DotA2, archived from the original on 22 Jan 2024:
text: Iran EU when? lol
ref: 2023 November 13, u/f4c1r, “Regions of Europe according to a Dutch map”, in Reddit, r/europe, archived from the original on 22 Jan 2024:
text: obligatory hl3 when? yea yea i know, likely never.
ref: 2023 November 18, u/waiting4singularity, “Valve marks Half-Life's 25th anniversary with game update and documentary”, in Reddit, r/gamernews, archived from the original on 22 Jan 2024:
text: Bard and eve nerf when
ref: 2024 January 17, u/JabberwockyNZ, “14.2 Patch Preview”, in Reddit, r/leagueoflegends, archived from the original on 22 Jan 2024:
glosses: At what time? At which time? Upon which occasion or circumstance? Used to introduce direct or indirect questions about time.
Used after a noun or noun phrase in isolation to express impatience with an anticipated future event.
examples: text: He's mister high and mighty now, but I remember him when.
glosses: At an earlier time and under different, usually less favorable, circumstances.
examples: text: That was the day when the Twin Towers fell.
text: Not a week goes by when I don't mourn that loss.
text: The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on a certain afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track.[…]Their example was followed by others at a time when the master of Mohair was superintending in person the docking of some two-year-olds, and equally invisible.
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, pages 58–59:
glosses: At which, on which, during which: often omitted or replaced with that.
examples: text: I recall when they were called the Greys.
text: Next year is when we elect a new mayor.
qualifier: fused relative
glosses: The time at, on or during which.
examples: text: Love is when you can't get enough of someone.
glosses: A circumstance or situation in which.
raw_tags: in definitions or explanations