why

Meanings

1. 1
   adv

   For what cause, reason, or purpose.

   Why is the sky blue?

2. 2
   adv

   For which cause, reason, or purpose.

   That's the reason why I did that.

3. 3
   adv

   The cause, reason, or purpose for which.

   That is why the sky is blue.

4. 4
   noun

   Reason.

   A good article will cover the who, the what, the when, the where, the why and the how.

5. 5
   intj

   An exclamation used to express pleasant or unpleasant mild surprise, indignation, or impatience.

   Why, that’s ridiculous!

6. 6
   verb

   To ask (someone) the question "why?".

   Why indeed? But once you start whying, there's no end to it.

7. 7
   noun

   A young heifer.

   At two years old, also, the HEIFERS - provincially, “whies,” are generally put to the bull.

8. 8
   noun

   Alternative form of wye; the name of the Latin script letter Y/y.

   ee, why, ee, ess, eyes

Etymology

From Middle English why, from Old English hwȳ (“why”), from Proto-Germanic *hwī (“by what, how”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷey, instrumental case of *kʷís (“who”), *kʷid (“what”). Cognate with Old Saxon hwī (“why”), hwiu (“how; why”), Middle High German wiu (“how, why”), archaic Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hvi (“why”), Norwegian Nynorsk kvi (“why”), Swedish vi (“why”), Faroese and Icelandic hví (“why”), Latin quī (“why”), Doric Greek πεῖ (peî, “where”), Ukrainian чи (čy, “if”), Polish czy, Czech či (“or”), Serbo-Croatian či (“if”). Compare Old English þȳ (“because, since, on that account, th…