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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

English

how

/haʊ/
To what degree or extent.

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    Origin

    Etymology 1

    From Middle English how, hou, hu, hwu, from Old English hū, from Proto-West Germanic *hwō, from Proto-Germanic *hwō (“through what, how”), from the same root as hwæt (“who, what”). /hw/ > /h/ due to wh-cluster reduction in Old English; compare who, which underwent this change later, and thus is spelt wh (Middle English spelling of /hw/) but pronounced /h/ (it previously had a different vowel, hence avoided the spelling and sound change in Old English). Vowel change per Great Vowel Shift.

    Akin to Scots hoo, foo (“how”), North Frisian ho, hü, hur (“how”), Saterland Frisian wo (“how”), West Frisian hoe (“how”), Dutch hoe (“how”), Low German ho, wo, wu (“how”), German wie (“how”), Swedish hur (“how”). See who and compare why.

    Etymology 2

    From Middle English howe, hough, hogh, partly from Old English hōh (“promontory”), and partly from Old Norse haugr (“a how, mound”). Compare Old French höe (“hillock, hill”), from the same Germanic source.

    Etymology 3

    From a Siouan language; compare Lakota háu. Alternatively from Wyandot haau.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englishhow
      • inheritedOld Englishhū “how”
        • inheritedProto-Germanic*hwō “through what, how”
          • derivedProto-Germanicthe
    • derivedEnglishhi “A friendly, informal, casual greeting said upon someone's arrival.”
      • inheritedMiddle Englishhey
        • inheritedOld Englishhīeġ “hay”
        • inheritedOld English*hē
    • rootProto-Indo-European*kʷ-
    • inheritedMiddle Englishhowe
      • inheritedOld Englishhōh “promontory”
        • derivedOld Norsehaugr “a how, mound”
    • derivedWyandothaau

    Related: Scots hoo, North Frisian ho, Saterland Frisian wo, West Frisian hoe, Dutch hoe, Low German ho, German wie, Swedish hur, Old French höe, Lakota háu

    Words built on it: how-to, however

    Meanings

    adv
    1. To what degree or extent.
    2. In what manner
    3. By what means.
    4. With overtones of why, for what reason.
    5. In what form, shape, measure, quantity, etc.
    6. With what meaning or effect.
    conj
    1. Used to state that something is in a certain way or state.
    intj
    1. What?, pardon?
    noun
    1. The means by which something is accomplished.

    Sources

    • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
    • Wiktionary: how