what gives
English
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what gives
Where it comes from
First attested in 1940, in John O'Hara's novel Pal Joey. The term is considered by the American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, Second Edition (2013) and several other references to be a calque of German “was gibt's?” and/or a Yiddish equivalent. Brian Joseph disputes this, and speculates that despite extremely late attestation, it and the German was gibt's may "allow[] for a reconstruction of a Proto-West-Germanic existential use of 'give', which survives marginally into present usage."
phrase
- What is wrong? Why is this happening? Not even thirty minutes after leaving the shower, my head starts itching. What gives?
- What is happening? What is going on? What gives with you and Martha?
- How are you?
Translations
Talk about this word "what gives." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/what%20gives. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. what gives. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/what%20gives "what gives." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/what%20gives.Cite this
@misc{what_gives_2026,
title = {what gives},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/what%20gives},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
