Old English · adverb
hu
- Part of speech
- adverb
- IPA
- /xuː/[huː]
- Syllables
- xuː (1 syllable)
hu1 · adverb
Senses
how, in all senses, including:; to what degree
Hū be mete? hū swīðe lyst þē þæs?
How about food? How much dost thou desire that?
late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Saint Augustine's Soliloquieshow, in all senses, including:; in what manner
how, in all senses, including:; in what state
used in exclamations
Ēalā hū gōd mann!
Oh, what a good person!
c. 995, Ælfric, Extracts on Grammar in Englishused to introduce negative rhetorical questions
Hū, ne eart þū sē mann þe on mīnre scōle wǣre āfēded and ġelǣred?
Aren't you the person who was raised and taught in my school?
late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy
hu2 · conjunction
Senses
how, in all senses:; in what manner
how, in all senses:; that, the fact that (introducing direct statements)
Etymology
From Proto-Germanic *hwō. Cognate with Old Frisian hū, Old Saxon hū (Dutch hoe), Old High German wuo.
Descendants
hoo, how
Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hu · CC BY-SA 4.0 licence · Attribution