what
Pronunciation: [hwɒt]
Average Rank: 72
Chinese Translation (中文翻译)
Source: ECDICTpron. 什么 interj. 怎么, 多么 a. 什么的 adv. 到什么程度
Detailed Explanations:
- pron., a., & adv. As an interrogative pronoun, used in asking
- questions regarding either persons or things; as, what is this? what
- did you say? what poem is this? what child is lost?
- pron., a., & adv. As an exclamatory word: -- (a) Used absolutely
- or independently; -- often with a question following.
- pron., a., & adv. Used adjectively, meaning how remarkable, or
- how great; as, what folly! what eloquence! what courage!
- pron., a., & adv. Sometimes prefixed to adjectives in an
- adverbial sense, as nearly equivalent to how; as, what happy boys!
- pron., a., & adv. As a relative pronoun
- pron., a., & adv. Used substantively with the antecedent
- suppressed, equivalent to that which, or those [persons] who, or those
- [things] which; -- called a compound relative.
- pron., a., & adv. Used adjectively, equivalent to the . . .
- which; the sort or kind of . . . which; rarely, the . . . on, or at,
- which.
- pron., a., & adv. Used adverbially in a sense corresponding to
- the adjectival use; as, he picked what good fruit he saw.
- pron., a., & adv. Whatever; whatsoever; what thing soever; --
- used indefinitely.
- pron., a., & adv. Used adverbially, in part; partly; somewhat;
- -- with a following preposition, especially, with, and commonly with
- repetition.
- n. Something; thing; stuff.
- interrog. adv. Why? For what purpose? On what account?
ECDICT Dictionary Data
Word Frequency Rankings
Wikipedia
#144Formal, encyclopedic, and academic usage
Out of 10,000 words in the Wikipedia corpus
TV & Movie Scripts
#11Conversational and colloquial usage
Out of 10,000 words in the TV & Movie Scripts corpus
Project Gutenberg
#60Classical and literary usage
Out of 10,000 words in the Project Gutenberg corpus
Insights
This word appears in 3 corpus/corpora, showing its usage across academic, conversational, and literary contexts.
Usage pattern: Most frequent in Wikipedia, making it particularly important for that context.