why

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

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English why, from Old English hwȳ (“why”), from Proto-Germanic *hwī (“by what, how”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷey, instrumental case of *kʷis (“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.

Pronunciation

• enPR: hwī, wī, IPA^(key): /waɪ/, /ʍaɪ/
• Rhymes: -aɪ
• Homophones: wye, Y, y (wine–whine merger)

Adverb

why (not comparable)

1. (interrogative) For what cause, reason, or purpose.
   1. Introducing a complete question.
      • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

        Why do you have a map of the world?

      1. With a negative, used rhetorically to make a suggestion.

         Why don't you ask her out for dinner?

   2. Introducing a verb phrase (bare infinitive clause).

   3. Introducing a noun or other phrase.

2. (relative) For which cause, reason, or purpose.

3. (fused relative) The cause, reason, or purpose for which.

Synonyms

• how come, wherefore, to what end, what for, why so, (obsolete) for why

Translations

Noun

why (plural whys or why's or whies)

1. Reason.

Synonyms

• wherefore

Translations

Interjection

why

1. (dated or literary) An exclamation used to express pleasant or unpleasant mild surprise, indignation, or impatience.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

why (third-person singular simple present whys or whies, present participle whying, simple past and past participle whyed or whied)

1. (intransitive, transitive) To ask (someone) the question "why?".

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Noun

why (plural whies)

1. (UK, dialect, archaic) A young heifer.

Etymology 3

Noun

why

1. Alternative form of wye; the name of the Latin-script letter Y/y.

Derived terms

References

• “why, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Further reading

• “why”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “why”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• hwy, hwy.

Cornish

Alternative forms

• hwi (Standard Written Form)

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *swīs (compare Breton c’hwi, Welsh chi, Old Irish síi), from Proto-Indo-European *wos.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʍiː/, /ʍəɪ/

Pronoun

why

1. (Standard Cornish, Standard Written Form with Traditional Graphs) you (formal or plural)