Word definition: how

Etimology


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 change per Great Vowel Shift. Akin to Scots hoo, foo (“how”), Saterland Frisian wo (“how”), West Frisian hoe (“how”), Low German ho, wo, wu (“how”), Dutch hoe (“how”), German wie (“how”), Swedish hur (“how”). See who and compare why.

adverb


how (not comparable)

(interrogative) To what degree or extent.

(interrogative) In what manner:

(interrogative) In what state or condition.

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

Examples


How often do you practice?

The gauge indicated how hot the oven was.

No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.

How damaged is her self-esteem?

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 , 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.

How do you solve this puzzle?

How else can we get this finished?

She showed him how to do it.

How should I know whether he likes raisins or not? Ask him!

How do you sell your brandy?   We sell it by the gallon, and not by the bottle.

How does God appear in these religions? Hinduism has a thousand faces for God, some likable, some horrible. You can pick and choose your preferred image. Buddhism does not even have an image of God, but concentrates on man.

How the stock market interprets events has real consequences.

A heap of stamps? Yes. Stamps they were indeed, hundreds of penny Queen's Heads neatly mounted on the original sheets. "Good God!" exclaimed Mr. Erskine as he turned to Mr. Sackville, "how am I to take this, sir?" said he severely. "Where are the real stamps? Were they ever inside, ever in your possession at all? If it is a joke, it is a very poor one."

"How art thou called? Thy name make known; Thy father's name and family,—tell me thy father's and thine own."

Salutation—How does one address the recipient; what titles, greetings, and honorifics are preferred; how does one manage the problem of unknown gender; […]

Shal. How a score of ewes now?Sil. Thereafter as they be: a score of good ewes may be worth ten pounds.

How are you?

How was your vacation?

How's the new apartment? — The new apartment is great! Audio

Audio

How very interesting!

How wonderful it was to receive your invitation.

Those were such happy times and not so long ago / How I wondered where they'd gone

How England had to fight for victory against this steely Denmark with an inspired keeper in Kasper Schmeichel, especially after conceding their first goal of the tournament to Mikkel Damsgaard's stunning free-kick after 30 minutes.

conjunction


how

The manner or way in which.

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

That, the fact that.

Examples


I remember how I solved this puzzle.

People should be free to live how they want.

“There’s this real Al Capone fear that they’re going to get our guys, not on marijuana, but on something else,” Mr. Edson said, referring to how Capone was eventually charged with tax evasion rather than criminal activity.

She told me how her father was a doctor.

noun


how (plural hows or how's)

The means by which something is accomplished.

Examples


I am not interested in the why, but in the how.

It is an a posteriori argument, evincing the fact, but not the how.

A wham-bam caper flick, efficiently directed by Roger Donaldson, that fancifully revisits the mysterious whos and speculative hows of a 1971 London bank heist.

Etimology


From Middle English howe, hough, hogh, partly from Old English hōh (“promontory”), and partly from Old Norse haugr (“a how, mound”). Compare Old French höe (“hillock, hill”), from the same Germanic source.

noun


how (plural hows)

(dialectal) An artificial barrow or tumulus; in later folklore, associated with fairies.

(dialectal) A small hill in northern England.

Examples


Fianlly, as regards the places in which these rites and mysteries may have been held, certain writers believe them to have been the "Fairy Hills" or "howes" in various parts of Scotland.

The fairy feast inside the howe reminds one of nothing so much as a tale in the Icelandic Eyrbyggia saga, written in the mid thirteenth century.

Etimology


From a Siouan language; compare Lakota háu. Alternatively from Wyandot haau.

interjection


how

A greeting, used in representations of Native American speech.

Data provided by Wiktionary