How

Pronunciation

• IPA: /haÊŠ/
• Rhymes: -aÊŠ

Middle English how, hou, hu, hwu, Old English hū, from Proto-Germanic *hwō, from the same root as hwæt ("who, what"). Akin to Old Saxon huo (Low German wo), hū, Dutch hoe, compare German wie ("how"). See who and compare why.

Full definition of how

Adverb

1. To what degree.
• 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 4, 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.
2. How often do you practice?
3. In what manner.
• 2013-08-03, Boundary problems, 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 (GDP), 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.
4. How do you solve this puzzle?   How else can we get this finished?
5. Used as a modifier to indicate surprise, delight, or other strong feelings.
   How very interesting!   How wonderful it was to receive your invitation.
6. In what state.How are you?How was your vacation?

Usage notes

See usage notes on else.

How good is it? means "To what extent is it good?", whereas How is it good? means "In what manner is it good?". Likewise, I know how good it is means "I know the extent to which it is good", whereas I know how it is good means "I know the manner in which it is good".

Derived terms

• how many
• how much
• how come
• how so
• know-how

Noun

1. The means by which something is accomplished.I am not interested in the why, but in the how.
• 1924, Joseph Rickaby, Studies on God and His Creatures‎, p. 102:It is an a posteriori argument, evincing the fact, but not the how.

Conjunction

1. In which way; in such way.I remember how to solve this puzzle.
2. That, the fact that, the way that.
• 2010 April 24, Jesse McKinley, “Don’t Call It ‘Pot’ in This Circle; It’s a Profession”, in The New York Times, page A1:“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.

From a language, compare Lakota háu. Alternatively from Wyandot haau.

Interjection

1. A greeting, used in representations of Native American speech.

From Old Norse haugr.

Noun

1. (dialectal) An artificial barrow or tumulus.
2. (dialectal) A small hill in northern England. (Usage preserved mainly in place names.)

Anagrams

• who, WHO