HOW TO PRONOUNCE
what
/wɑt/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 1:05
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What does what mean?
determiner
- Which, especially which of an open-ended set of possibilities.
- Which.
- Any ... that; all ... that; whatever.
More meanings (19)
determiner
- 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'.
- Used to form exclamations indicating that something is remarkable, in either a good or bad way.
pronoun
- Which thing, event, circumstance, etc.: used in asking for the specification of an identity, quantity, quality, etc.
- That which; those that; the thing(s) that.
- Anything that; all that; whatever.
- That; which; who.
adverb
- In what way; to what extent.
- 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.
interjection
- An expression of surprise or disbelief.
- What do you want? An abrupt, usually unfriendly enquiry as to what a person desires.
- 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.
- (dated) Clipping of what do you say?, used as a type of tag question to emphasise a statement and invite agreement, often rhetorically.
noun
- The identity of a thing, as an answer to a question of what.
- Something that is addressed by what, as opposed to a person, addressed by who.
- (obsolete) Something; thing; stuff.
particle
- Emphasizes the truth of an assertion made to contradict an evidently false assumption held by the listener.
- Used to invite agreement or acknowledgment when something is assumed to be straightforward or already obvious to begin with; similar in function to “right?” and “as you know”.
- Used after a direct assertion to reinforce a disagreeing opinion.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/wɑt/
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
She felt very curious to know what it was all about, and crept a little way out of the wood to listen.
It is a punishment put on them for something they did so long ago that no star now knows what it was.
More book examples (3)
This is one of those refinements which, in practice, has an effect the reverse of what is expected from it in theory.
I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty—to wit, the white man’s power to enslave the black man.
“He’ll strain for money as a salmon will strain for the river’s head. ’Tis a thief and a robber, that’s what ’tis.”