# what

> English word · Determiner · IPA /wɒt/ · frequency rank #46

## Definitions
1. Which, especially which of an open-ended set of possibilities.
2. Which.
3. Any ... that; all ... that; whatever.
4. 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'.
5. 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'.

## Etymology
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *kʷ-
Proto-Indo-European *kʷís
Proto-Germanic *hwat
Proto-West Germanic *hwat
Old English hwæt
Middle English what
English what
From Middle English what, from Old English hwæt (“what”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwat, from Proto-Germanic *hwat (“what”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷód (“what”), neuter form of *kʷós (“who”).
Cognate with Scots what, whit (“what”), North Frisian wat (“what”), Saterland Frisian wat (“what”), West Frisian wat (“what”), Dutch wat (“what”), Low German wat (“what”), German was (“what”), Danish hvad (“what”), Norwegian Bokmål hva (“what”), Swedish vad (“what”), Norwegian Nynorsk kva (“what”), Icelandic hvað (“what”), Latin quod (“what, which”).
Its use as a particle of contradiction or objection in colloquial Singaporean and Malaysian English is analogous to Cantonese 喎 /㖞 (wo³, etymology 2, sense 3). It is possible that this was historically reinforced by the dated use of what as a sentence-final question tag in British English.

## Easily confused with
- **wt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/what-vs-wt)
- **who** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/what-vs-who)
- **why** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/what-vs-why)
- **wit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/what-vs-wit)
- **wot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/what-vs-wot)
- **wut** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/what-vs-wut)
- **WPA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/what-vs-wpa)
- **when** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/what-vs-when)
- **whom** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/what-vs-whom)
- **wrap** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/what-vs-wrap)
- **wont** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/what-vs-wont)
- **whip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/what-vs-whip)
- **whoa** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/what-vs-whoa)
- **woah** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/what-vs-woah)
- **writ** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/what-vs-writ)
- **whim** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/what-vs-whim)
- **whew** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/what-vs-whew)
- **wilt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/what-vs-wilt)
- **whit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/what-vs-whit)
- **whos** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/what-vs-whos)

## Common misspellings (6)
`hwat`, `waht`, `whatt`, `whhat`, `whta`, `wwhat`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/what