what
pron.pron. the word you use to ask for information about a thing or an action. You use it when you do not know what something is or what is happening.
pron. an interrogative pronoun used to request specific information about an object, event, or situation. It functions as the subject, object, or complement in a clause.
What is your favorite color?
The manager asked what the team needed to finish the project by Friday afternoon.
In philosophical inquiry, the question of what constitutes a meaningful life often leads to a discussion of personal values versus societal expectations.
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kʷ- Proto-Indo-European *kʷís Proto-Germanic *hwat Proto-West Germanic *hwat Old English hwæt Middle English what English what From Middle English what, from Old English hwæt (“what”), from Proto-West Germanic hwat, from Proto-Germanic hwat (“what”), from Proto-Indo-European kʷód (“what”), neuter form of kʷós (“who”). Cognate with Scots what, whit (“what”), North Frisian wat (“what”), Saterland Frisian wat (“what”), West Frisian wat (“what”), Dutch wat (“what”), Low German wat (“what”), German was (“what”), Danish hvad (“what”), Norwegian Bokmål hva (“what”), Swedish vad (“what”), Norwegian Nynorsk kva (“what”), Icelandic hvað (“what”), Latin quod (“what, which”). Its use as a particle of contradiction or objection in colloquial Singaporean and Malaysian English is analogous to Cantonese 喎 /㖞 (wo³, etymology 2, sense 3). It is possible that this was historically reinforced by the dated use of what as a sentence-final question tag in British English.
Functions as an interrogative pronoun or a relative pronoun; when used as a relative pronoun, it often means 'the thing that'.
I don't know what is the time.I don't know what the time is.In indirect questions or noun clauses, the subject must come before the verb.