why
Meanings
adv
- For what cause, reason, or purpose.
- Introducing a complete question.
- With a negative, used rhetorically to make a suggestion.
- Introducing a verb phrase (bare infinitive clause).
- Introducing a noun or other phrase.
- For which cause, reason, or purpose.
- The cause, reason, or purpose for which.
noun
- Reason.
intj
- An exclamation used to express pleasant or unpleasant mild surprise, indignation, or impatience.
verb
- To ask (someone) the question "why?".
noun
- A young heifer.
noun
- Alternative form of wye; the name of the Latin script letter Y/y.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
From Middle English why, from Old English hwȳ (“why”), from Proto-Germanic *hwī (“by what, how”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷey, instrumental case of *kʷís (“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.
Synonyms
Derived words
Translations
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