wat
English

Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /wat/, /wɒt/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
Noun
wat (plural wats)
- A Buddhist temple in Southeast Asia, especially those in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.
- There are two wats near this village.
- Angkor Wat
- 1857, Sir John Bowring, The kingdom and people of Siam, volume 1, page 165:
- Having at last got past the crowd of boats, we advanced rapidly for two hours more, when we stopped at a wat, in order to give the men a rest.
- 1982, Carlo Caldarola, Religions and societies, Asia and the Middle East, page 379:
- Aside from its religious function in the community, the wat also performs a large variety of social functions.
- 1996, James Bissett Pratt, The Pilgrimage of Buddhism and a Buddhist Pilgrimage, page 194:
- It would be a mistake, however, to emphasize the Hindu element in Cambodian Buddhism and Cambodian temples. At its greatest it is always a subordinate element and in most of the wats or temples it hardly appears at all, […]
- 1999, Steve Van Beek with Luca Invernizzi, The arts of Thailand, page 15:
- It is often possible to discern the motivation or importance of a wat by examining its name
- 2003, Joshua Eliot with Jane Bickersteth, Thailand handbook, page 268:
- The ubosoth is in a small enclosure just before the main entrance to the wat, on the right, which has fine gilded doors. The wat has a small museum.
Translations
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See also
Noun
wat
- (cooking) A kind of stew or curry eaten in Ethiopia and Eritrea.
- [1987 July 29, Steven Barboza, “Culinary Delights of Africa Reflect a Continent's Diversity”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- In Ethiopia, a volcanic pepper and spice seasoning, berbere, is widely used, and the stews called wats are eaten with a spongy flat bread, injera.]
Etymology 3
Variation of what, used for humorous effect.
A-Pucikwar
Etymology
From Proto-Great Andamanese *wat.
References
- Juliette Blevins, Linguistic clues to Andamanese pre-history: Understanding the North-South divide, pg. 20 (2009)
Afrikaans
Etymology
From Dutch wat, from Middle Dutch wat, from Old Dutch wat, from Proto-Germanic *hwat, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷód, *kʷod.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /vat/
Audio (file)
Pronoun
wat
- (interrogative, non-personal) what
- Coordinate term: (personal) wie
- Wat het julle gedrink? ― What did you guys drink?
- (relative, personal and non-personal, subject and object) who, whom, which, that
- die man wat hier woon ― the man who lives here
- die huis wat ons gebou het ― the house that we built
- (relative, personal and non-personal, with preposition stranding) who, which, that
- (relative, non-personal, before se) whose, of which
- Coordinate term: (personal) wie
- die land wat se president afgetree het ― the country whose president stepped down
Related terms
See also
Afrikaans interrogative and relative pronouns | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
interrogative | relative | ||||
personal | other | personal | other | ||
subject / object | wie | wat | wat | ||
possessive | wie se | wat se | wie se | wat se | |
with preposition |
prepositioned | met wie | met wat | met wie | — |
stranded | wat ... mee | wat … mee | |||
adverbial | waarmee | waarmee |
Dutch
Etymology
From Middle Dutch wat, from Old Dutch wat, from Proto-West Germanic *hwat, from Proto-Germanic *hwat, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷód, *kʷod, compare West Frisian wat, English what, German was, Danish hvad.
Pronoun
wat
- (interrogative) what: e.g. (1) asking for a subject complement; (2) asking for a sentence object
- (1) Wat is dat? — What is that?
- (2) Wat wil je doen? — What do you want to do?
- (relative) what: e.g. (1) as the object of a sentence; (2) ditto
- (1) Ik weet niet wat ik wil doen. — I don't know what I want to do.
- (2) Jij moet afblijven van wat jij daar ziet. — You must not touch what you see there.
- (relative) that: e.g. (1) modifying an indefinite pronoun like iets, niets, alles or het enige; (2) modifying an adjective that is used as a noun, usually a superlative
- (1) Geef mij maar alles wat eetbaar is. — Please give me everything that is edible.
- (2) Het duurste wat er was. — The most expensive that there was.
- (relative) which: e.g. (1) modifying the demonstrative pronouns dat and datgene; (2) referring back to an entire sentence
- (1) Hij nam precies datgene wat ik had gewild — He took exactly that which I had wanted.
- (2) Jantje deed het in z’n broek, wat zijn moeder in verlegenheid bracht. — John did it in his pants, which embarrassed his mother
- (indefinite) something: e.g. (1) as subject; (2) as subject complement
- (1) Daar loopt wat rond. — Something there is walking around.
- (2) Dat is aardig wat! — That is quite something! [i.e. "That is quite a lot!"]
Usage notes
This pronoun can combine with a preposition to form a pronominal adverb. When this occurs, it is changed into its adverbial/locative counterpart waar. See also Category:Dutch pronominal adverbs.
A subclause following the relative pronoun wat is in SOV order.
Descendants
Determiner
wat
- some
- Ik wil graag wat kersen.
- I want some cherries please.
- (exclamative) what (a), such
- Wat een onzin!
- What nonsense!
Usage notes
With uncountable, or countable nouns.
Adverb
wat
- a bit, somewhat
- Hij doet dat wat onbedachtzaam.
- He does that somewhat unthoughtfully.
- (exclamative) how, so
- Wat leuk!
- How nice!
German
Etymology
A regional form adopted into colloquial standard German. In western Germany from Central Franconian wat, from northern Middle High German wat, from northern Old High German hwat, an unshifted relict form possibly due to Frankish influence. In northern Germany from German Low German wat, from Middle Low German wat, from Old Saxon hwat. Doublet of was.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /vat/
Audio (file) - Homophone: Watt
- Rhymes: -at
Usage notes
- Although found in the native lects throughout northern and western Germany, the use of wat in colloquial standard German is most typical of the West (chiefly North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate). It is also heard in some parts of northern and north-eastern Germany, e.g. in and around Berlin. In all these regions, the forms wat and was are used in free variation.
Further reading
Luxembourgish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /vaːt/ (stressed)
- IPA(key): /vɑt/ (unstressed)
- Rhymes: -aːt, -ɑt
Middle Dutch
Etymology
From Old Dutch wat, from Proto-Germanic *hwat.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /wat/
Further reading
- “wat (II)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
- Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “wat (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page I
Middle English
Etymology 1
Uncertain; possibly from wight.
Etymology 2
Uncertain.
Etymology 3
See entries.
Verb
wat
References
- Middle English Dictionary, "wāt n.1", "wat n.2", & "wat".
Middle Low German
Etymology
From Old Saxon hwat, from Proto-Germanic *hwat.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /wat/
North Frisian
Etymology
From Old Frisian wit, from Proto-West Germanic *wit.
Pronoun
wat
- (first person dual personal pronoun) we two, both of us, us two
Old Dutch
Etymology
From Proto-West Germanic *hwat.
Further reading
- “wat”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012
Old High German
Etymology
From Proto-Germanic *wadą, whence also Old English wæd, Old Norse vað (Icelandic vað).
Declension
Descendants
- Middle High German: *wat, *wate (perhaps)
- German: Wate f (dialectal; may also be deverbal)
References
- Köbler, Gerhard, Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, (6. Auflage) 2014
Polish
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
Named after Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist James Watt.
Usage notes
The alternative, colloquial genitive plural form wat is proscribed.
Declension
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Portuguese
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈwa.t͡ʃi/, /ˈwat͡ʃ/
- (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈwat͡ʃ/, /ˈwa.t͡ʃi/
Transylvanian Saxon
West Frisian
Etymology
From Old Frisian hwet, from Proto-West Germanic *hwat, from Proto-Germanic *hwat, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷód.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /vɔt/
Further reading
- “wat”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011