what for

English

Alternative forms

• for what
• whuffo (Southern US)

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Adverb

what for (not comparable)

1. For what purpose.

   What is this tool for?

   That's what friends are for.

2. (colloquial) For what reason; why.

   He wants four copies of it? What for?

   Ow! What did you do that for?

   What do you want to know for?

Translations

for what purpose

• Hebrew: בשביל מה (bishvíl ma)
• Hungarian: mire (hu)
• Spanish: para qué
• Tibetan: ག་རེའི་དོན་ལ (ga re'i don la) (colloquial), ག་རེ་བྱད་ཡག་རེད (ga re byad yag red) (colloquial), གང་གི་དོན་དུ (gang gi don du) (literary)

for what reason; why

• Arabic: لِمَ (ar) (lima), لِمَاذَا (limāḏā)
• Breton: da betra (br)
• Chinese:

  Hakka: 做麼个 (cho-má-ke)

  Hokkien: 是按怎 (sī-án-choáⁿ), 為甚物／为甚物 (ūi-sím-mi̍h), 為啥物／为啥物 (ūi-siáⁿ-mi̍h)

  Mandarin: 為什麼／为什么 (zh) (wèishénme)

• Estonian: miks (et)
• Finnish: miksi (fi), minkä takia, minkä vuoksi, mitä varten
• French: pourquoi (fr)
• German: wofür (de)
• Hebrew: למה (he) (láma), בשביל מה (bishvíl ma)
• Hungarian: miért (hu), minek (hu)
• Indonesian: untuk apa
• Irish: cén fáth, cad chuige
• Italian: perché (it)
• Japanese: どうして (dōshite)
• Macedonian: зошто (mk) (zošto), чуму (čumu)
• Malay: untuk apa
• Polish: po co (pl), dlaczego (pl)
• Portuguese: para quê?
• Russian: заче́м (ru) (začém), для чего́ (dlja čevó), за что́ (za štó)
• Spanish: por qué (es) (idiom)
• Swedish: varför (sv), av vilken anledning
• Tibetan: ག་རེ་བྱས་ནས (ga re byas nas) (colloquial), ཅིའི་ཕྱིར (ci'i phyir) (literary)
• Tok Pisin: watpo
• Ukrainian: навіщо (naviščo)
• Yiddish: צו וואָס (tsu vos)

Noun

what for (plural what fors)

1. (idiomatic, colloquial, usually with "give someone") An unspecified punishment or rebuke.

   When your dad gets home, he'll give you (a) what for.

   • 1968, Oliver!, 01:12:40:

     - Fagin, I'm waiting.
     - Waiting, my dear? What for?
     - Bill will give you "what for" if you don't fork out.

   • 2010, Retro Studios, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Nintendo, Wii, level/area: Cranky Kong's shop:

     Cranky Kong: 'NOW GET OUT THERE AND GIVE THOSE LITTLE DRUM GUYS WHAT FOR. YES, I SAID "WHAT FOR." I'M OLD. GET OVER IT.'

Translations

an unspecified punishment or rebuke

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: co proto
• Finnish: isän kädestä
• Polish: nauczka (pl) f
• Russian: взбу́чка (ru) f (vzbúčka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: како ороз бибер меље

  Roman: kako oroz biber melje