why

why - English

Pronunciation

enPR: hwī, wī, IPA: /ʍaɪ/, /waɪ/
Homophones: wye, Y, y (all only in accents with the wine-whine merger)

Adverb

why (not comparable)

(interrogative) For what cause, reason, or purpose.
1. Introducing a complete question.
  - Why is the sky blue?
  - Why did you do that?
  - I don’t know why he did that
  - Tell me why the moon changes phase.
  1. With a negative, used rhetorically to make a suggestion.
    - Why don't you ask her out for dinner?
2. Introducing a verb phrase (bare infinitive clause).
  - Why spend money on something you already get for free?
  - Why not tell him how you feel?
3. Introducing a noun or other phrase.
  - Why him? Why not someone taller?
(relative) For which cause, reason, or purpose.
- That's the reason why I did that.
(fused relative) The cause, reason, or purpose for which.
- That is why the sky is blue.

Synonyms

how come, wherefore, to what end, what for, why so

Translations

Abkhaz: ахьԥа (axʲpa), иахьԥа (jaxʲpa) (infix)
Afrikaans: waarom
Alabama: sáhmi
Albanian: pse (sq), përse (sq)
American Sign Language: OpenB@Sfhead Y@FromSfhead
Amharic: ለምን (lämn)
Arabic: لِمَاذَا‎ (limāḏā), لِمَ‎ (ar) (lima)
- Egyptian Arabic: ليه‎ (lēh)
- Gulf Arabic: لِيش‎ (lēš)
- Hijazi Arabic: لِيش‎ (lēš), ليه‎ (lē)
- Moroccan Arabic: علاش‎ (ʕlāš), علياش‎ (ʕlayāš), علاه‎ (ʕlāh), لاش‎ (lāš), لاه‎ (lāh)
- North Levantine Arabic: لِيش‎ (lēš), ليه‎ (lē)
- South Levantine Arabic: لِيش‎ (lēš)
Armenian: ինչու (hy) (inčʿu), խի (hy) (xi)
- Old Armenian: էր (ēr), հիմ (him), իմ (im), ընդէր (əndēr), էրում (ērum), զի (zi), զմէ (zmē)
Assamese: কিয় (kiy), কেলেই (kelei), কেলৈ (keloi)
Asturian: por qué (ast)
Azerbaijani: niyə, nə üçün
Bakhtiari: سیچی‎ (sičē), سیچه‎ (sičē)
Bashkir: ни өсөн (ni ösön), ниңә (niŋä)
Basque: zergatik
Belarusian: чаму́ (čamú)
Bengali: কেন (bn) (keno)
Bikol Central:
- Bikol Daet: bakin
- Bikol Legazpi: nata (bcl)
- Bikol Naga: tano (bcl)
- Bikol Partido: hadaw
Breton: perak (br)
Bulgarian: защо́ (bg) (zaštó)
Burmese: ဘာဖြစ်လို့ (bhahpraclui.)
Catalan: per què (ca)
Cebuano: ngano
Central Atlas Tamazight: ⵎⴰⵅ (max)
Chechen: хӏунда (hunda)
Cherokee: ᎦᏙᏃ (gadono)
Chichewa: chifukwa chiyani
Chickasaw: katimi ta
Chinese:
- Cantonese: 點解／点解 (yue) (dim² gaai²), 為乜／为乜 (wai⁶ mat¹), 做乜 (zou⁶ mat¹), 做乜嘢 (zou⁶ mat¹ je⁵), 做咩 (zou⁶ me¹)
- Dungan: виса (visa), захуэй (zahuey)
- Hakka: 做麼個／做么个 (cho-mak-ke)
- Mandarin: 為甚麼／為什麼／为什么 (zh) (wèishénme), 為啥／为啥 (zh) (wèishá) (dialectal)
- Min Nan: 物代 (mih-tāi), 為甚物／為什物／为什物 (ūi-sím-mi̍h), 為啥物／为啥物 (ūi-siáⁿ-mih, ūi-siáⁿ-mi̍h, ūi-siáⁿ-mí), 是按怎 (sī-án-chóaⁿ, sī-án-nóa, sī-án-ná), 因何 (in-hô), 為何／为何 (zh-min-nan) (ūi-hô)
- Wu: 啥體／啥体 (sa thi) (Shanghai), 為啥／为啥 (hhue sa)
Chukchi: иаʼм
Chuvash: мӗншӗн (mĕnš̬ĕn)
Cornish: prag
Crimean Tatar: ne içün, ne sebepten
Czech: proč (cs)
Danish: hvorfor (da)
Deccani: کئیکو‎
Dhivehi: ކީއްވެ‎ (kīvve)
Dutch: waarom (nl)
Eastern Mari: молан (molan)
Erzya: мекс (meks)
Esperanto: kial (eo)
Estonian: miks (et)
Faroese: hví
Finnish: miksi (fi), mitä varten, minkä tähden, minkä vuoksi
French: pourquoi (fr)
- Middle French: parquoy
Galician: por qué (gl), e logo
Georgian: რატომ (raṭom), რისთვის (ristvis)
German: warum (de), wieso (de), weshalb (de), weswegen (de)
Gothic: 𐌳𐌿𐍈𐌴 (duƕē)
Greek: γιατί (el) (giatí)
- Ancient: τί (tí), διὰ τί (dià tí)
Greenlandic: sooq
Hawaiian: aha
Hebrew: לָמָּה, לָמָה‎ (he) (láma), מַדּוּעַ‎ (he) (madúa’)
Hiligaynon: ngaa
Hindi: क्यों (hi) (kyõ), क्यूँ (kyū̃)
Hungarian: miért (hu)
Ibanag: ngatta
Icelandic: af hverju (is)
Ido: pro quo (io)
Ilocano: apay
Indonesian: mengapa (id), kenapa (id)
Irish: cad chuige, cén fáth, canathaobh
- Old Irish: cid ara
Italian: perché (it)
Jamaican Creole: wa mek
Japanese: 何故 (ja) (なぜ, naze), なんで (nande), どうして (dōshite), 何故 (ja) (なにゆえ, naniyue) (dated)
Kannada: ಏಕೆ (kn) (ēke), ಯಾಕೆ (kn) (yāke)
Kapampangan: obakit, bakit, obat, ot
Karachay-Balkar: нек (nek)
Kashmiri: کیٛازِ‎ (kyāzi), क्याज़ि (kyāzi)
Kazakh: неге (kk) (nege)
Khakas: ноға (noğa)
Khmer: ហេតុអ្វី (haet ʼaʼvəy), ហេតុអី (haet ʼəy)
Kikuyu: nĩkĩ, nĩ ũndũ kĩ
Korean: 왜 (ko) (wae)
Krio: wetin mek
Kumyk: неге (nege)
Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: بۆ‎ (ckb) (bo), لەبەر چی‎ (leber çî)
- Northern Kurdish: çima (ku), çira (ku), bo çi (ku), ji ber çi (ku)
Kyrgyz: эмне үчүн (emne üçün), неге (ky) (nege), эмнеге (emnege), эмнеден (emneden)
Lao: ເປັນຫຍັງ (pen nyang)
Latgalian: parkū, deļkuo
Latin: cūr, quārē
Latvian: kāpēc (lv), kādēļ, kālab
Limburgish: boerum, veurwat, woerum
Lithuanian: kodėl (lt)
Luxembourgish: firwat
Macedonian: зошто (mk) (zošto)
Malay: mengapa, kenapa (ms), kena apa, apa kena
Malayalam: എന്തുകൊണ്ട് (ml) (entukoṇṭŭ), എന്തിന് (entinŭ) (for what purpose?)
Maltese: għaliex
Maori: na te aha
Maranao: ngin, ngkaino
Marathi: का (kā)
Mbyá Guaraní: mba'e re
Moksha: мес (mes)
Mongolian: яагаад (mn) (jaagaad)
Navajo: haʼátʼíísh biniinaa
Neapolitan: pecché
Nepali: किन (ne) (kina)
Norman: pourtchi (Guernsey)
Norwegian:
- Bokmål: hvorfor (no)
- Nynorsk: korfor, kvifor (nn)
Occitan: perqué (oc)
Ojibwe: aaniish, aaniin, aanishwin
Old English: hwȳ
Pangasinan: akin
Persian: چرا‎ (fa) (čerâ), برای چی‎ (barâye či), برای چه‎ (fa) (barâye če)
Pitjantjatjara: nyaaku
Polabian: jocel
Polish: dlaczego (pl), czemu (pl), po co (pl), na co
Portuguese: por que (pt)
Romani: sosθar
Romanian: de ce, pentru ce
Russian: почему́ (ru) (počemú), заче́м (ru) (začém), отчего́ (ru) (otčevó)
Samoan: 'aiseā
Sanskrit: किमर्थं (kimarthaṃ), कुत (sa) (kuta), किमर्थम् (sa) (kimartham)
Scots: why
Scottish Gaelic: carson
Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: за̏што
- Roman: zȁšto (sh)
Sinhalese: ඇයි (æyi)
Slovak: prečo
Slovene: zakáj (sl)
Spanish: por qué (es)
Swahili: kwaje, mbona
Swedish: varför (sv)
Tagalog: bakit (tl)
Tahitian: no te aha
Tajik: чаро (čaro)
Tamil: ஏன் (ta) (ēṉ)
Tashelhit: ⵎⴰⵅ (max)
Tatar: нигә (nigä), нар ни өчен (nar ni öçen), ния (niya)
Tausug: mayta'
Telugu: ఎందుకు (te) (enduku)
Thai: ทำไม (th) (tam-mai), ไฉน (th) (chà-nǎi)
Tibetan: ག་རེ་བྱས་ནས (ga re byas nas)
Tok Pisin: watpo
Tongan: hā
Turkish: neden (tr), niçin (tr), niye (tr)
Turkmen: üçin, näme üçin
Tuvan: чүге (çüge), чоп (çop)
Ugaritic: 𐎍𐎎 (lm)
Ukrainian: чому́ (čomú), чом (čom)
Urdu: کیوں‎ (kyõ, kyū̃)
Uyghur: نېمە ئۈچۈن‎ (nëme üchün)
Uzbek: nega (uz)
Veps: mihe
Vietnamese: sao (vi), vì sao (vi), tại sao (vi)
Volapük: kikodo (vo)
Võro: mille
Walloon: pocwè (wa)
Waray-Waray: kay-ano
Welsh: pam, paham (literary)
West Frisian: wêrom
Wutunhua: mashema
Yakan: we'ey
Yakut: тоҕо (toğo), туохтан (tuoqtan), туох иһин (tuoq ihin)
Yiddish: למאַי‎ (lemay), פֿאַרוואָס‎ (farvos)
Yola: farthoo
Yoruba: kilode
Zazaki: çıra

Noun

why (plural whys or why's)

Reason.
- A good article will cover the who, the what, the when, the where, the why and the how.

Synonyms

wherefore

Translations

Armenian: պատճառ (hy) (patčaṙ)
Bulgarian: причи́на (bg) f (pričína)
Catalan: perquè (ca) m
Danish: derfor (da)
Dutch: waarom (nl) n
Finnish: miksi (fi)
French: pourquoi (fr) m
German: warum (de)
Greek: γιατί (el) n (giatí)
Hebrew: למה‎ (he) (láma), מדוע‎ (he) (madu‘a)
Hungarian: miért (hu)
Icelandic: ástæða (is)
Indonesian: mengapa (id), kenapa (id)
Italian: perché (it)
Japanese: 何故 (ja) (なぜ, naze), どうして (dōshite)
Latin: cur
Latvian: kādēļ
Macedonian: зошто (mk) (zošto), причина f (pričina)
Malay: mengapa, kenapa (ms)
Maltese: il-għala m
Neapolitan: pecché
Norwegian: derfor (no)
Occitan: perqué (oc) m
Polish: powód (pl), dlaczego (pl)
Portuguese: porquê (pt)
Romanian: pentru ce
Russian: причи́на (ru) f (pričína)
Spanish: porqué (es) m
Swedish: därför (sv)
Uzbek: sabab (uz)
Vietnamese: lí do (vi), lí do tại sao

Interjection

why

(dated or literary) An exclamation used to express pleasant or unpleasant mild surprise, indignation, or impatience.
- Why, that’s ridiculous! Why, how kind of you!

Translations

Bulgarian: ей (ej), хей (hej)
Danish: hva', hov
Deccani: کئیکو‎
Dutch: wel (nl), nou (nl)
Finnish: no mutta
French: ha (fr), oh (fr), ah (fr)
German: nanu (de), na (de)
Hungarian: hát (hu), nos (hu), nocsak
Icelandic: nú (is)
Malay: eh, eh
Norwegian: hvorfor (no)
Polish: ależ (pl), przecież (pl), toć (pl)
Portuguese: uai (pt)
Russian: ого́ (ru) (ogó), о (ru) (o), как (ru) (kak)
Spanish: vaya (es)

Derived terms

Noun

why (plural whies)

(UK, dialect, archaic) A young heifer.

Anagrams

hwy, hwy.

why - Cornish

Alternative forms

hwi (Standard Written Form)

Pronunciation

IPA: /ʍiː/, /ʍəɪ/

Pronoun

why

(Standard Cornish, Standard Written Form with Traditional Graphs) you (formal or plural)