why

Meanings

1. 1
   adv

   For what reason or purpose.

   Why is the sky blue?

2. 2
   adv

   For which reason; the reason that.

   That's the reason why I left early.

3. 3
   noun

   A reason or explanation.

   A good report explains the who, the what, and the why.

4. 4
   intj

   Used to express surprise, impatience, or mild protest.

   Why, that's ridiculous!

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…

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