English Explanatory Dictionary

how so

English dictionary entry

Meanings

phrase
  1. How?; In what way?
  2. Why?; For what reason?
adv
  1. How; In what way; however
  2. Why; For what reason.
  3. Used as an intensifier.

Pronunciation

en-au-how so.ogg

Word forms

how so

Etymology

From ellipsis of "how is that so?", and also continuing Middle English how-so, hou-so, hu se (“however, in whatsoever way”). Compare West Frisian hoesa (“how so, why”), Dutch hoezo (“how so, why”), German Low German woso (“how so, why”), German wieso (“how so, why”), Swedish hurså (“how so”). By surface analysis, how + so.

Related words

how come how’s that
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on H Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary