English

you think what

/juː ˈθɪŋk ˈwʌt/
What do you think this is?; do you think this is some kind of […] ?; said in response to an impractical or naïve suggestion.

    Etymology graph

    • inherited
    • borrowed
    • derived
    • parts
    • meaning component
    • sound component
    • related
    React Flow

    Click a node to zoom in · double-click to open it

    Origin

    A colloquial interpretation of the phrase what do you think? with reorganized syntax, demonstrating optional wh-fronting in Singlish. Analogous to certain sentence structures in Chinese, e.g., Hokkien 汝儂咧講什物？ /汝侬咧讲什物？ (lír-lâng leh kóng sím-mih?, “what are you all talking about?”), in which the interrogative word 什物 (sím-mih, “what”) remains where it is and does not move to the front of the sentence.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    Sources