how

English Online Dictionary. What means how‎? What does how mean?

English

Alternative forms

• 'ow

Pronunciation

• enPR: hou, (UK) IPA^(key): /haʊ/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /hæɔ/
• (Ireland) IPA^(key): /hæʊ/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /haʊ/
  • (Dialectal) IPA^(key): /hʌʊ/, [həu̯]
• Rhymes: -aʊ

Etymology 1

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”), 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.

Adverb

how (not comparable)

1. (interrogative) To what degree or extent.
2. (interrogative) In what manner:
   1. By what means.

      She showed him how to do it.

   2. With overtones of why, for what reason.

   3. In any manner in which; in whatever way; however.

   4. In what form, shape, measure, quantity, etc.
   5. With what meaning or effect.

      How the stock market interprets events has real consequences.
   6. By what title or what name.
   7. At what price, for what amount (of money).
3. (interrogative) In what state or condition.
   • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     How's the new apartment? — The new apartment is great!

4. (exclamative) Used as a modifier to indicate surprise, delight, or other strong feelings in an exclamation.

Usage notes

• See usage notes on else (adverb).
• How good is it? means "To what extent is it good?", whereas How is it good? means "In what manner is it good?". Likewise, I know how good it is means "I know the extent to which it is good", whereas I know how it is good means "I know the manner in which it is good".

Derived terms

Translations

Conjunction

how

1. (informal) That, the fact that.

Translations

Noun

how (plural hows or how's)

1. The means by which something is accomplished.

Etymology 2

From Middle English howe, hough, hogh, partly from Old English hōh (“promontory”), and partly from Old Norse haugr (“a how, mound”). Compare Old French höe (“hillock, hill”), from the same Germanic source.

Alternative forms

• howe

Noun

how (plural hows)

1. (dialectal) An artificial barrow or tumulus; in later folklore, associated with fairies.
2. (dialectal) A small hill in northern England.

Usage notes

• Usage is preserved mainly in place names.

Etymology 3

From a Siouan language; compare Lakota háu. Alternatively from Wyandot haau.

Alternative forms

• howgh

Interjection

how

1. A greeting, used in representations of Native American speech.

Translations

References

• “how”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “how”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “how”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• W. H. O., who, WHO, Who, W.H.O.

Abau

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hou/

Noun

how

1. taro

Alabama

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

Adverb

how

1. yes

Synonyms

• yamá

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔw/, [ow]

Adverb

how

1. here

Further reading

• Muka, Arnošt (1921, 1928) “how”, in Słownik dolnoserbskeje rěcy a jeje narěcow (in German), St. Petersburg, Prague: ОРЯС РАН, ČAVU; Reprinted Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag, 2008
• Starosta, Manfred (1999) “how”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English hū, from Proto-West Germanic *hwō, from Proto-Germanic *hwō.

Alternative forms

• hou, howe, hu, hwu, whu, wou, wu

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /huː/, /wuː/

Adverb

how

1. how

Descendants

• English: how
• Geordie English: hoo
• Scots: hoo, how, foo
• Yola: fowe, how

Conjunction

how

1. how

Descendants

• English: how
• Geordie English: hoo
• Scots: hoo, how, foo

References

• “hǒu, conjunctive adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

Noun

how

1. Alternative form of hough (“promontory”)

Yola

Adverb

how

1. Alternative form of fowe

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 80