how

Meanings

1. 1
   adv

   To what degree or extent.

   How often do you practice?

2. 2
   adv

   In what manner

   Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too.[…]But as a foundation for analysis it is highly subjective: it rests on difficult decisions about what counts as a territory, what counts as output and how to value it. Indeed, economists are still tweaking it.

3. 3
   adv

   In what manner:

   How do you solve this puzzle?

4. 4
   adv

   In what state or condition.

   How are you?

5. 5
   adv

   In the manner in which.

   I said it exactly how he said it.

6. 6
   adv

   In any manner in which; in whatever way; however.

   People should be free to live how they want.

7. 7
   adv

   In which.

   The way how you walk is funny.

8. 8
   adv

   Used as a modifier to indicate surprise, delight, or other strong feelings in an exclamation.

   How very interesting!

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kʷ- Proto-Indo-European *kʷís Proto-Germanic *hwō Old English hū Middle English how English how 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 chang…