when

Meanings

1. 1
   adv

   At what time.

   When will the train arrive?

2. 2
   conj

   At or during the time that.

   I was reading when the phone rang.

3. 3
   conj

   Every time that; whenever.

   The dogs bark when they hear the doorbell.

4. 4
   adv

   At, on, or during which.

   That was the year when we moved to London.

From Middle English when(ne), whan(ne), from Old English hwonne, from Proto-West Germanic *hwannē, from Proto-West Germanic *hwan, from Proto-Germanic *hwan (“at what time, when”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷís (interrogative base). Cognate with Scots whan (“when”), Dutch wanneer (“when”), wan (“when”) and wen (“when, if”), Low German wannehr (“when”), wann (“when”) and wenn (“if, when”), German wann (“when”) and wenn (“when, if”), Gothic 𐍈𐌰𐌽 (ƕan, “when, how”), Latin quandō (“when”). More at who. Interjection sense: a playful misunderstanding of "say when" (i.e. say something / speak up when…

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