"how should I know" meaning in All languages combined

See how should I know on Wiktionary

Phrase [English]

Audio: En-au-how should I know.ogg Forms: how am I to know [alternative], how do I know [alternative], how would I know [alternative]
Head templates: {{head|en|phrase}} how should I know
  1. A rhetorical question asked to show that the person asking it neither knows the answer nor would be able to know it; sometimes therefore also implying that the asker was wrong to ask the askee at all. Related terms: what do I know Translations (Translations): كَيْفَ لِي أَنْ أَعْرِفَ؟ (kayfa lī an a’rifa?) (Arabic), weet ik veel (Dutch), mistä minä tietäisin? (Finnish), qu’est-ce que j’en sais (French), از کجا بدانم؟ (az kojâ bedânam?) (Persian), bo ja wiem (Polish), como eu vou saber (Portuguese), отку́да я зна́ю? (otkúda ja znáju?) (Russian), отку́да мне знать? (otkúda mne znatʹ?) (Russian)

Alternative forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "how am I to know",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "how do I know",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "how would I know",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase"
      },
      "expansion": "how should I know",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "I know"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Arabic terms with non-redundant manual transliterations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English rhetorical questions",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Arabic translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Dutch translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Persian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Portuguese translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Russian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Near-synonyms: God knows, who knows, I don't know"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A rhetorical question asked to show that the person asking it neither knows the answer nor would be able to know it; sometimes therefore also implying that the asker was wrong to ask the askee at all."
      ],
      "id": "en-how_should_I_know-en-phrase-ZyBTsDdv",
      "links": [
        [
          "rhetorical question",
          "rhetorical question#English"
        ],
        [
          "asker",
          "asker#English"
        ],
        [
          "askee",
          "askee#English"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "what do I know"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "ar",
          "lang": "Arabic",
          "roman": "kayfa lī an a’rifa?",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "كَيْفَ لِي أَنْ أَعْرِفَ؟"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "weet ik veel"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "mistä minä tietäisin?"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "qu’est-ce que j’en sais"
        },
        {
          "code": "fa",
          "lang": "Persian",
          "roman": "az kojâ bedânam?",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "از کجا بدانم؟"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "bo ja wiem"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "como eu vou saber"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "otkúda ja znáju?",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "отку́да я зна́ю?"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "otkúda mne znatʹ?",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "отку́да мне знать?"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-how should I know.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/7c/En-au-how_should_I_know.ogg/En-au-how_should_I_know.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/En-au-how_should_I_know.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "how should I know"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "how am I to know",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "how do I know",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "how would I know",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase"
      },
      "expansion": "how should I know",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "what do I know"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "I know"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "Arabic terms with non-redundant manual transliterations",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English phrases",
        "English rhetorical questions",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Arabic translations",
        "Terms with Dutch translations",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with French translations",
        "Terms with Persian translations",
        "Terms with Polish translations",
        "Terms with Portuguese translations",
        "Terms with Russian translations",
        "Translation table header lacks gloss"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Near-synonyms: God knows, who knows, I don't know"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A rhetorical question asked to show that the person asking it neither knows the answer nor would be able to know it; sometimes therefore also implying that the asker was wrong to ask the askee at all."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "rhetorical question",
          "rhetorical question#English"
        ],
        [
          "asker",
          "asker#English"
        ],
        [
          "askee",
          "askee#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-how should I know.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/7c/En-au-how_should_I_know.ogg/En-au-how_should_I_know.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/En-au-how_should_I_know.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ar",
      "lang": "Arabic",
      "roman": "kayfa lī an a’rifa?",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "كَيْفَ لِي أَنْ أَعْرِفَ؟"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "weet ik veel"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "mistä minä tietäisin?"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "qu’est-ce que j’en sais"
    },
    {
      "code": "fa",
      "lang": "Persian",
      "roman": "az kojâ bedânam?",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "از کجا بدانم؟"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "bo ja wiem"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "como eu vou saber"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "otkúda ja znáju?",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "отку́да я зна́ю?"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "otkúda mne znatʹ?",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "отку́да мне знать?"
    }
  ],
  "word": "how should I know"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-05-29 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-05-20 using wiktextract (e937b02 and f1c2b61). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.