how's your father
"how-s-your-father" is a 14-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“how's your father” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 17
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A whatsit; a thing which the speaker is unable or unwilling to specify more precisely.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | how's your father |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 17 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “how's your father” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
how's your father is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for how's your father, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: A popular catchphrase of the 1910s popularised by music-hall entertainer Harry Tate, who used it for comic effect to change the subject away from one about which his character was ignorant (hence sense 1) or a taboo subject (hence sense 2). The correct English form is how's your father, spelled H-O-W-'-S- -Y-O-U-R- -F-A-T-H-E-R.
Definition
- 1A whatsit; a thing which the speaker is unable or unwilling to specify more precisely.
- 2Sexual intercourse.
Etymology
A popular catchphrase of the 1910s popularised by music-hall entertainer Harry Tate, who used it for comic effect to change the subject away from one about which his character was ignorant (hence sense 1) or a taboo subject (hence sense 2).
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “how's your father”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-O-W-'-S- -Y-O-U-R- -F-A-T-H-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.