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Why
Definitions
- 1 For what cause, reason, or purpose.; Introducing a complete question. interrogative, not-comparable
"Why is the sky blue?"
- 2 For what cause, reason, or purpose.; Introducing a complete question.; With a negative, used rhetorically to make a suggestion. interrogative, not-comparable
"Why don't you ask her out for dinner?"
- 3 For what cause, reason, or purpose.; Introducing a verb phrase (bare infinitive clause). interrogative, not-comparable
"Why spend money on something you already get for free?"
- 4 For what cause, reason, or purpose.; Introducing a noun or other phrase. interrogative, not-comparable
"Why him? Why not someone taller?"
- 5 For which cause, reason, or purpose. not-comparable, relative
"That's the reason why I did that."
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- 6 The cause, reason, or purpose for which. not-comparable
"That is why the sky is blue."
- 1 An exclamation used to express pleasant or unpleasant mild surprise, indignation, or impatience. dated, literary
"Why, that’s ridiculous!"
- 1 Reason.
"A good article will cover the who, the what, the when, the where, the why and the how."
- 2 A young heifer. Yorkshire, obsolete
"At two years old, also, the HEIFERS - provincially, “whies,” are generally put to the bull."
- 3 Alternative form of wye; the name of the Latin script letter Y/y. alt-of, alternative
"ee, why, ee, ess, eyes"
- 4 the cause or intention underlying an action or situation, especially in the phrase ‘the whys and wherefores’ wordnet
- 1 To ask (someone) the question "why?". intransitive, transitive
"Why indeed? But once you start whying, there's no end to it."
Etymology
From Middle English why, from Old English hwȳ (“why”), from Proto-Germanic *hwī (“by what, how”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷey, instrumental case of *kʷís (“who”), *kʷid (“what”). Cognate with Old Saxon hwī (“why”), hwiu (“how; why”), Middle High German wiu (“how, why”), archaic Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hvi (“why”), Norwegian Nynorsk kvi (“why”), Swedish vi (“why”), Faroese and Icelandic hví (“why”), Latin quī (“why”), Doric Greek πεῖ (peî, “where”), Ukrainian чи (čy, “if”), Polish czy, Czech či (“or”), Serbo-Croatian či (“if”). Compare Old English þȳ (“because, since, on that account, therefore, then”, literally “by that, for that”). See thy.
From Middle English why, from Old English hwȳ (“why”), from Proto-Germanic *hwī (“by what, how”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷey, instrumental case of *kʷís (“who”), *kʷid (“what”). Cognate with Old Saxon hwī (“why”), hwiu (“how; why”), Middle High German wiu (“how, why”), archaic Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hvi (“why”), Norwegian Nynorsk kvi (“why”), Swedish vi (“why”), Faroese and Icelandic hví (“why”), Latin quī (“why”), Doric Greek πεῖ (peî, “where”), Ukrainian чи (čy, “if”), Polish czy, Czech či (“or”), Serbo-Croatian či (“if”). Compare Old English þȳ (“because, since, on that account, therefore, then”, literally “by that, for that”). See thy.
From Middle English why, from Old English hwȳ (“why”), from Proto-Germanic *hwī (“by what, how”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷey, instrumental case of *kʷís (“who”), *kʷid (“what”). Cognate with Old Saxon hwī (“why”), hwiu (“how; why”), Middle High German wiu (“how, why”), archaic Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hvi (“why”), Norwegian Nynorsk kvi (“why”), Swedish vi (“why”), Faroese and Icelandic hví (“why”), Latin quī (“why”), Doric Greek πεῖ (peî, “where”), Ukrainian чи (čy, “if”), Polish czy, Czech či (“or”), Serbo-Croatian či (“if”). Compare Old English þȳ (“because, since, on that account, therefore, then”, literally “by that, for that”). See thy.
From Middle English why, from Old English hwȳ (“why”), from Proto-Germanic *hwī (“by what, how”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷey, instrumental case of *kʷís (“who”), *kʷid (“what”). Cognate with Old Saxon hwī (“why”), hwiu (“how; why”), Middle High German wiu (“how, why”), archaic Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hvi (“why”), Norwegian Nynorsk kvi (“why”), Swedish vi (“why”), Faroese and Icelandic hví (“why”), Latin quī (“why”), Doric Greek πεῖ (peî, “where”), Ukrainian чи (čy, “if”), Polish czy, Czech či (“or”), Serbo-Croatian či (“if”). Compare Old English þȳ (“because, since, on that account, therefore, then”, literally “by that, for that”). See thy.
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