how

A1 Topic:Grammar & Function Words

US /haʊ/ UK /haʊ/ See IPA manual

Freq #56

Meanings

1

adv
In what way or by what means.

How do you solve this puzzle?
2

adv
To what degree or amount.

How often do you practise?
3

adv
In what state or condition.

How are you today?
4

adv
In the way that.

I said it exactly how he said it.
5

adv
Used to add emphasis to surprise or strong feelings.

How very interesting!

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms hows

Derived forms anyhow everyhowforhowhow-d'ye-dohow-tohowcatchemhownesshowsohowsofarknow-hownohowsilly-how

Appears in

Idioms (2)

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Tongue twisters (1)

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How Much Wood
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck If a woodchuck could and would chuck wood? He’d chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would If a woodchuck could and would chuck wood.

Alternate the rounded /w/ with the short stop-and-release of /tʃ/. Wood, would and could share /ʊ/; chuck and much use /ʌ/ in many Englis...

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…

*kʷ- Proto-Indo-European how Middle English hū Old English *hwō Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Grammar & Function Words

External links

# how

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A1
**Part of speech:** adv
**IPA (US):** /haʊ/
**IPA (UK):** /haʊ/
**Frequency rank:** 56

## Meanings
1. In what way or by what means.
2. To what degree or amount.
3. In what state or condition.
4. In the way that.
5. Used to add emphasis to surprise or strong feelings.

## Examples
- How do you solve this puzzle?
- How often do you practise?
- How are you today?
- I said it exactly how he said it.
- How very interesting!

## Derived Forms
- anyhow
- everyhow
- forhow
- how-d'ye-do
- how-to
- howcatchem
- howness
- howso
- howsofar
- know-how
- nohow
- silly-how

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *kʷ-
- Root: how
- Root: hū
- Root: *hwō

## 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…

## AI Etymology
How comes 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). The historical chain runs through Proto-Indo-European *kʷ-, Proto-Indo-European *kʷís, Proto-Germanic *hwō, Old English hū, Middle English how, and English how. In current use, the main senses are “In what way or by what means” and “To what degree or amount”.

## Topics
- Grammar & Function Words

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