Note: these 'words' (valid or invalid) are all the permutations of the word what. These words are obtained by scrambling the letters in what.
Definitions and meaning of what
what
Etymology
From Middle Englishwhat, from Old Englishhwæt(“what”), from Proto-West Germanic*hwat, from Proto-Germanic*hwat(“what”), from Proto-Indo-European*kʷód(“what”), neuter form of *kʷós(“who”). Cognate with Scotswhit(“what”), North Frisianwat(“what”), Saterland Frisianwat(“what”), West Frisianwat(“what”), Dutchwat(“what”), Low Germanwat(“what”), Germanwas(“what”), Danishhvad(“what”), Norwegian Bokmålhva(“what”), Swedishvad(“what”), Norwegian Nynorskkva(“what”), Icelandichvað(“what”), Latinquod(“what, which”).
Pronunciation
(Canada, General American)
(with wine–whine merger) enPR: wŭt, IPA(key): /wʌt/; (in General American sometimes also) IPA(key): /wɑt/
(stressed, in accents with the wine–whine merger)
(without the wine–whine merger) enPR: hwŭt, IPA(key): /ʍʌt/
(stressed, in accents without the wine–whine merger)
(without the wine–whine merger) enPR: hwŏt, IPA(key): /ʍɒt/
(General Australian) IPA(key): /wɔt/
(General South African) enPR: wŏt, IPA(key): /wɑt/, /wɜt/
(Singapore) IPA(key): /wʌt/, (as a particle)[wä(ː)t̚˨˩], (now rare)/ʍʌt/
Rhymes: -ɒt, -ʌt
Homophones: Watt, watt, wot(all only in British, Australian, NZ, NYC accents with the wine–whine merger)
Determiner
what
(interrogative) Which, especially which of an open-ended set of possibilities.
What colour are you going to use?
What time is it?
What kind of car is that?
(relative) Which; the ... that.
I know what colour I am going to use.
That depends on what answer is received.
(relative) Any ... that; all ... that; whatever.
Emphasises that something is noteworthy or remarkable in quality or degree, in either a good or bad way; may be used in combination with certain other determiners, especially 'a', less often 'some'.
This shows what beauty there is in nature.
You know what nonsense she talks.
I found out what a liar he is.
(exclamative)Used to form exclamations indicating that something is remarkable, in either a good or bad way.
Synonym:such
Little Red Riding Hood, traditional folk tale
“Oh Granny, what big eyes you have,” said Little Red Riding Hood.
Usage notes
In cases where both "what" and "which" are possible, with similar meaning, "what" is preferred for open-ended choices, while "which" is preferred for choices from a closed group or set. For example, "Which one of these do you want?" not "What one of these do you want?".
As used to begin an exclamation, what and such are largely interchangeable, with a few exceptions:
Nouns modified by such need not appear at the beginning of the sentence: She sings with such passion.
such requires that the noun phrase it modifies be gradable in some way. Such a disaster! is acceptable because a disaster may be minor or major in degree, but Such a movie! is not (except with the unusual meaning that the movie under discussion has especially "movie-like" qualities).
how is another word used at the beginning of a sentence to form an exclamation (How quickly he ran!), but it modifies different syntactic elements (verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and certain determinatives).
Translations
Pronoun
what
(interrogative) Which thing, event, circumstance, etc.: used in asking for the specification of an identity, quantity, quality, etc.
What is your name?
Ask them what they want.
2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
The gym is across from … what? — The gym is across from the lounge. — Across from the lounge. Right. Thanks!
(fused relative) That which; those that; the thing(s) that.
(fused relative) Anything that; all that; whatever.
(relative, nonstandard) That; which; who.
'Ere! There's that bloke what I saw earlier!
Translations
Adverb
what (not comparable)
(interrogative) In what way; to what extent.
What does it matter?
What do you care?
Used before a prepositional phrase to emphasise that something is taken into consideration as a cause or reason; usually used in combination with 'with' (see what with), and much less commonly with other prepositions.
1815, Rev. Mr. Milne, letter reprinted in The Evangelical Magazine and Missionary Chronicle, Volume 23, page 82. [1]
The Chinese of all ranks, and in every place, received my books gladly, and listened with patience to what I had to say about the true God.—So that what from opportunities of attending to the object of my Mission among the Chinese—what from seasons of religious instruction to Dutch and English—what from intercourse with gentlemen of education and knowledge of the world—what from occasions of stating clearly the object of Missions, and of endeavouring to remove prejudices against them—and what from the view of a highly cultivated country, happy under an enlightened and liberal government, I have much reason to be satisfied with this journey [...]
Translations
Interjection
what
An expression of surprise or disbelief.
What! That’s amazing!
What do you want? An abrupt, usually unfriendly enquiry as to what a person desires.
(British, colloquial, dated)Clipping of what do you say? Used as a type of tag question to emphasise a statement and invite agreement, often rhetorically.
What did you say? I beg your pardon? This usage is often considered impolite, with the more polite "Pardon?" or "Excuse me?" preferred.
Indicating a guess or approximation, or a pause to try to recall information.
Alternative forms
wha
Synonyms
(colloquial British interjection):what-what, wot
(what did you say?):come again, pardon; see also Thesaurus:say again
Translations
Noun
what (countable and uncountable, pluralwhats)
(obsolete, uncountable) Something; thing; stuff.
(countable) The identity of a thing, as an answer to a question of what.
(countable) Something that is addressed by what, as opposed to a person, addressed by who.
2012, "We Are Both", season 2, episode 2 of Once Upon a Time
Regina: What are you?
Rumplestiltskin: What? What? What? My, my, what a rude question! I am not a what.
Particle
what
(Manglish, Singlish)Emphasizes the truth of an assertion made to contradict an evidently false assumption held by the listener.
Derived terms
See also
(Singlish particles): ah, hor, know, lah, leh, liao, lor, mah, meh, one, sia
References
Low, Ee Ling, Brown, Adam (2005) English in Singapore: An Introduction, →ISBN
Kuteva, Tania, Rhee, Seongha, Ziegeler, Debra, Sabban, Jessica (2018) “On sentence-final “what” in Singlish: Are you the Queen of England, or what?”, in Journal of Language Contact[3]
Anagrams
HAWT, Thaw, Wath, hawt, thaw, wath
Chinese
Alternative forms
What
Etymology
From clipping of EnglishWhatsApp.
Pronunciation
Verb
what
(Hong Kong Cantonese) to WhatsApp; to send via WhatsApp
Middle English
Etymology 1
From Old Englishhwæt, from Proto-West Germanic*hwat, from Proto-Germanic*hwat, from Proto-Indo-European*kʷód.
Alternative forms
whad, whote, watte, wath, wad, qhat
whæt, whæht, waht, waet, wæht, weht, hweat(Southern West Mid)
From Middle Englishwhetten, from Old Englishhwettan, from Proto-West Germanic*hwattjan. Cognates include Englishwhet.
Alternative forms
whatt
Pronunciation
IPA(key): [ʍɑt]
Verb
what (third-person singular simple presentwhats, present participlewhatin, simple pastwhatt, past participlewhatt)
(transitive) to whet, hone, sharpen
References
Yola
Etymology
From Middle Englishwhetten, from Old Englishhwettan, from Proto-West Germanic*hwattjan.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /wat/
Verb
what
to whet
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 78