English Explanatory Dictionary

when

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adv
  1. At what time? At which time? Upon which occasion or circumstance? Used to introduce direct or indirect questions about time.
  2. Used after a noun or noun phrase in isolation to express impatience with an anticipated future event.
  3. At an earlier time and under different, usually less favorable, circumstances.
  4. At which, on which, during which: often omitted or replaced with that.
  5. The time at, on or during which.
  6. A circumstance or situation in which.
conj
  1. At (or as soon as) that time that; at the (or any and every) time that; if.
  2. During the time that; at the time of the action of the following clause or participle phrase.
  3. At what time; at which time.
  4. Since; given the fact that; considering that.
  5. Whereas; although; at the same time as; in spite of the fact that.
pron
  1. What time; which time.
noun
  1. The time at which something happens.
intj
  1. That's enough: a command asking someone to stop adding something, especially an ingredient or portion of food or drink; used in, or as if in, literal response to 'Say when'.
  2. Expressing impatience.

Pronunciation

hwĕn wĕn /ˈwɛn/ en-us-when.ogg /ˈʍɛn/ en-ne-when.ogg hwĭn wĭn /ˈwɪn/ /ˈʍɪn/ [ˈw̥ɪn] En-uk-when.ogg

Word forms

when wen whens

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".

Synonyms

whilst seeing that as soon as immediately once whenever while given that but where whereas

Derived words

as and when ask how high when someone says jump back when be greedy when others are fearful burn that bridge when one comes to it buy when it snows and sell when it goes cross that bridge when one comes to it cross that bridge when one gets there cross that bridge when one gets to it hit someone when they are down if and when I know it when I see it I'll believe it when I see it kick a dog when it's down kick someone when they are down know someone when know when to fold 'em needs must when the devil drives quit when one is ahead you when I see you since when strike someone when they are down time flies when you're having fun way back when when Adam was an oakum boy when Adam was an oakum boy in Chatham Dockyard when all is said when all is said and done when as when heck freezes over when Hell freezes over when in Rome when is closing time when it came to when it comes to when it's at home when one's ship comes in when opportunity knocks when pigs can fly when pigs fly when push comes to shove when shrimps whistle when the balloon goes up when the cat's away when the cat's away the mice play when the cat's away the mice will play when the chips are down when the time comes when two Sundays come together when two Sundays meet whenwe why buy a book when you can join a library why buy a book when you can join the library why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free you don't look at the mantelpiece when you poke the fire you don't look at the mantelpiece when you're poking the fire zig when one should zag

Translations

Afrikaans: wanneer Akkadian: inūma Albanian: kur Southern Altai: качан Ao: kodang (Chungli) Arabic: مَتَى Arabic: إمتى Arabic: متى Arabic: امتى Arabic: فوقتاش Arabic: فوقاش Arabic: فوقاه Arabic: وقتاه Arabic: معاش Arabic: إيمتى Arabic: ونتى Arabic: وقتيش Chadian Arabic: متى Armenian: երբ Aromanian: cãndu Assamese: কেতিয়া Asturian: cuándo Azerbaijani: haçan Azerbaijani: nə vaxt Azerbaijani: nə zaman Azerbaijani: havaxt Bashkir: ҡасан Basque: noiz Belarusian: калі́ Bengali: কখন Bengali: কবে Bhojpuri: कब Central Bikol: nuarin Central Bikol: kasuarin Central Bikol: kun nuarin Central Bikol: kun kasuarin Breton: pegoulz Bulgarian: кога́ Burmese: ဘယ်တော့ Burmese: ဘယ်တုန်းက Carpathian Rusyn: кідь Catalan: quan Central Atlas Tamazight: ⵎⴰⵏ ⴰⴽⵓⴷ Central Atlas Tamazight: ⵎⴰⵏⴰⴳⵓ Central Atlas Tamazight: ⵎⴰⵏⵜⵓⵔ Central Atlas Tamazight: ⵎⵍⵎⵉ Chamicuro: na'kolyaye Chechen: маца Chickasaw: kati̱hkaash Chickasaw: kati̱hkmak Chinese Cantonese: 幾時 /几时 Chinese Cantonese: 何時 /何时 Chinese: дуәхур Chinese: 啥物時陣 /啥物时阵 Chinese: 當時 /当时 Chinese: 底時 /底时 Chinese: 啥時 /啥时 Chinese Mandarin: 甚麼時候 /什麼時候 /什么时候 Chinese Mandarin: 何時 /何时 Wu Chinese: 啥辰光 Chinook Jargon: qʰənchi Chinook Jargon: kunsih Ngazidja Comorian: nɗi Cornish: p'eur Czech: kdy Dalmatian: cand Danish: hvornår Dutch: wanneer Old Dutch: wanne Old Dutch: wan Elfdalian: ną̊r
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