why
pronunciation
How to pronounce why in British English:
UK [waɪ]
How to pronounce why in American English:
US [waɪ]
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- Noun:
- the cause or intention underlying an action or situation, especially in the phrase `the whys and wherefores'
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- Adverb:
- question word; what is the reason (`how come' is a nonstandard variant)
Word Origin
- why
- why: [OE] Why goes back to Indo-European *qwei, the locative case of the interrogative base *qwo- (source of English what and who). This passed into prehistoric Germanic as *khwī, which has since died out in all the Germanic languages apart from Danish (hvi) and English (why).
- why (adv.)
- Old English hwi, instrumental case (indicating for what purpose or by what means) of hwæt (see what), from Proto-Germanic adverb *hwi (cognates: Old Saxon hwi, Old Norse hvi), from PIE *kwi- (source of Greek pei "where"), locative of *kwo- "who" (see who). As an interjection of surprise or emphasis, recorded from 1510s. As a noun, "cause, reason" from c. 1300.
Example
- 1. Why did you do that ?
- 2. Why should I hire you ?
- 3. Why do you do that ?
- 4. Let me tell you why .
- 5. No one really knows why .