who
English
Pronoun
(interrogative pronoun) What person or people; which person or people (used in a direct or indirect question).
- Who is that? (direct question)
- I don’t know who it is. (indirect question)
(relative pronoun) The person or people that.
- It was a nice man who helped us.
Usage notes
When “who” (or the other relative pronouns “that” and “which”) is used as the subject of a relative clause, the verb agrees with the antecedent of the pronoun. Thus “I who am…”, “He who is…”, “You who are…”, etc.
Noun
(en noun )
A person under discussion; a question of which person.
* {{quote-news, year=2008, date=March 21, author=The New York Times, title=Movie Guide and Film Series, work=New York Times citation
, passage=A wham-bam caper flick, efficiently directed by Roger Donaldson, that fancifully revisits the mysterious whos and speculative hows of a 1971 London bank heist. }}
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what
Pronoun
(English Pronouns )
(interrogative) Which thing, event, circumstance, etc.: used interrogatively in asking for the specification of an identity, quantity, quality, etc.
(relative, nonstandard) That; which.
* 1902 , , (The Admirable Crichton) :
- That’s her; that’s the thing what has stole his heart from me.
(relative) That which; those that; the thing that.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author=(Oliver Burkeman)
, volume=189, issue=2, page=48, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= The tao of tech
, passage=The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast […, or offering services that let you “stay up to date with what your friends are doing”,
-
Adverb
(–)
In some manner or degree; in part; partly; usually followed by with .
-
Such.
-
-
(label) Why?
* (rfdate ) (Chaucer)
- What should I tell the answer of the knight?
* (rfdate ) (John Milton)
- But what do I stand reckoning upon advantages and gains lost by the misrule and turbulency of the prelates?
Used to introduce each of two coordinate phrases or concepts; both…and.
* :
- And as for on C good knyghtes I haue my self / but I fawte / l / for so many haue ben slayne in my dayes / and so Ladegreans delyuerd his doughter Gweneuer vnto Merlyn / and the table round with the C knyghtes / and so they rode fresshly with grete royalte / what‘ by water and ‘ what by land / tyl that they came nyghe vnto london
Interjection
(en interjection )
* 1605 Wm. Shakespeare, King Lear
- What , have his daughters brought him to this pass?
- What ! That’s amazing.
(British, colloquial, dated) Is that not true?
- It’s a nice day, what”’?” (sometimes repeated, e.g.: ””’What”’-”’what ? )
Determiner
(en determiner )
Which; which kind of.
- What shirt are you going to wear?
- What time is it?
- What kind of car is that?
How much; how great (used in an exclamation).
- What talent he has!
- What a talent!
Derived terms
* wat
* what ho
* whatness
* what’s what
Noun
(–)
(obsolete) something; thing; stuff
* Spenser
- They prayd him sit, and gave him for to feed / Such homely what as serves the simple clowne, / That doth despise the dainties of the towne
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