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PlainSpell

whatever

/wʌtˈɛv.ɚ/noun, determiner, pronoun, adverb, interjection, adjective

whatever is spelled W-H-A-T-E-V-E-R: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 138 times per million words in written English, the 756th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, whatever means “A thing or person whose actual name is unknown or forgotten” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of whatever is whatevers.

How many letters and syllables are in whatever?

Letters8: W-H-A-T-E-V-E-R
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing138 times per million words; the 756th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is whatever?

Whatever appears 138 times per million words in written English, the 756th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce whatever?

  • UK /ʍɒtˈɛv.ə/
  • UK /wɒtˈɛv.ə/
  • US /wʌtˈɛv.ɚ/

Whatever has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-whatever.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with whatever?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as whatever from its last stressed vowel (/ɛvəɹ/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of whatever

  • whatevers plural
  • more whatever comparative
  • most whatever superlative

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does whatever mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    slangA thing or person whose actual name is unknown or forgotten.

  2. 2

    colloquialSomething whose exact kind or nature is unimportant; a thingy.

determiner

  1. 1

    What ever; emphatic form of 'what'.

    Good heavens! Whatever time is it?!

  2. 2

    Regardless of the ... that; for any ... that.

    Whatever your choice, there will be consequences.

  3. 3

    Any ... that; of no matter what type or kind that.

    Whatever doubts I had were quickly dispelled.

  4. 4

    Any; of no matter what type or kind.

    He must be stopped, whatever the cost.

pronoun

  1. 1

    What ever; emphasised form of 'what', used to ask which thing, event, circumstance, etc.

    Whatever do you mean?

  2. 2

    Regardless of anything that.

    Whatever he does, he will still lose the game.

  3. 3

    Anything that; all that.

    Do whatever works.

  4. 4

    informalAnything; thing(s) of unspecified kind, or no matter what kind; sometimes used to indicate that the speaker does not care about options.

    I don't need any of this stuff, so take whatever.

adverb

  1. 1

    At all; in any way; whatsoever.

    There is no point whatever in going on with this discussion.

  2. 2

    In what way; to what extent.

    Whatever does it matter now?

interjection

  1. 1

    colloquialA holophrastic expression used to dismiss something that the speaker doesn't care about, doesn't think important, or doesn't want to consider or discuss any further. Sometimes conceived as an ellipsis of whatever you say, implying feigned deference: whatever you say [apparently must be true].

    Near-synonyms: meh, so what

adjective

  1. 1

    colloquialUnexceptional or unimportant; blah.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate whatever?

Wiktionary records 4 abbreviations of whatever: MAW, w/e, wtv, wtvr.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Whatever in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchquel que soit, n'importe quel, n'importe quelle, peu importe, tant pis (regardless of the … that; for any … that), n'importe quoi (Translations)
Germanwas auch immer, Jacke wie Hose (regardless of the … that; for any … that), egal (Translations), naja, nebbich (indicating the speaker does not care what…)
Portuguesequalquer que seja (regardless of the … that; for any … that), qualquer coisa (Translations), tanto faz, que seja, tanto faz como tanto fez, dane-se (indicating the speaker does not care what…)
Spanishcualquier (a), quequier (regardless of the … that; for any … that), no importa, da igual, lo que sea, cualquiera (Translations)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does whatever come from?

From Middle English whatever. By surface analysis, what + -ever.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after whatever