why
English · Thesaurus
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Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
why¹
- /waɪ̯/
- [waɪ̯]
- /waː/ General South African
- /wa̝ː/ Multicultural London English
- /ʍaɪ̯/
- [ʍaɪ̯] ~ [w̥aɪ̯]
- /ʍae̯/ Scotland
- [ʍae̯] Scotland
- /ʍaː/ Southern US
- [ʍaː] ~ [w̥aː] Southern US
Sounds like wye, Y, y (wine–whine merger) · Rhymes with -aɪ
Where it comes from
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.
adverb
- Introducing a complete question. Why is the sky blue?
- With a negative, used rhetorically to make a suggestion. Why don't you ask her out for dinner?
- Introducing a verb phrase (bare infinitive clause). Why spend money on something you already get for free?
- Introducing a noun or other phrase. Why him? Why not someone taller?
- For which cause, reason, or purpose. That's the reason why I did that.
- The cause, reason, or purpose for which. That is why the sky is blue.
Similar: how come, to what end, what for, why so, for why, wherefore
noun whys · why's · whies
- Reason. A good article will cover the who, the what, the when, the where, the why and the how.
Similar: wherefore
interjection
- An exclamation used to express pleasant or unpleasant mild surprise, indignation, or impatience. Why, that’s ridiculous!
verb whys · whies · whying · whyed · whied
- To ask (someone) the question "why?". Why indeed? But once you start whying, there's no end to it.
why²
Where it comes from
A variant of quey.
noun whies
- A young heifer. At two years old, also, the HEIFERS - provincially, “whies,” are generally put to the bull.
why³
noun
- Alternative form of wye; the name of the Latin script letter Y/y. ee, why, ee, ess, eyes
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: wherefore, how come, explaining, explanation, result, rationale, cause, reason, consequence, therefore, because, well, when, thus, grounds, what
noun
Similar: wherefore
Translations
Every language
adv (interrogative) for what reason
| Español | por qué (razón/motivo), a qué son, a son de qué, con qué motivo/razón, en razón de qué, por |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 왜 wae |
| 日本語 | 何故 naze, なんで nande, どうして dōshite, 何故 naniyue |
| 中文 | 為甚麼 /為什麼 /为什么 wèishénme, 怎麼 /怎么 zěnme, 為何 /为何 wèihé, 幹嗎 /幹嘛 gànmá, 為啥 /为啥 wèishá |
| हिन्दी | क्यों kyõ, क्यूँ kyū̃ |
| Kiswahili | kwaje, mbona |
| Português | por que, por quê |
| Français | pourquoi |
| Deutsch | warum, wieso, weshalb, weswegen |
| Italiano | perché |
| Ελληνικά | γιατί giatí |
| Română | de ce, pentru ce |
| Русский | почему́ počemú, заче́м začém, отчего́ otčevó |
| Tiếng Việt | sao, vì sao, tại sao |
| العربية | لِمَاذَا limāḏā, لِمَ lima |
| עברית | לָמָּה, לָמָה láma, מַדּוּעַ madúa’ |
adv (relative), (fused relative)
| Español | por que, por lo que, por la que |
|---|
Talk about this word "why." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/why. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. why. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/why "why." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/why.Cite this
@misc{why_2026,
title = {why},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/why},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
