See why's on Wiktionary
{
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "contraction",
"head": ""
},
"expansion": "why's",
"name": "head"
},
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "why's",
"name": "en-cont"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "contraction",
"senses": [
{
"alt_of": [
{
"word": "why is"
}
],
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "74 6 6 15",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "74 7 7 12",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "79 6 6 10",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
50,
55
]
],
"text": "I don't want to go to college next year - Really? Why’s that?",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Contraction of why is."
],
"id": "en-why's-en-contraction-ImEoW2ep",
"links": [
[
"why",
"why#English"
],
[
"is",
"is#English"
]
],
"tags": [
"abbreviation",
"alt-of",
"contraction"
]
},
{
"alt_of": [
{
"word": "why has"
}
],
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
0,
5
]
],
"text": "Why's everyone gone home?",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Contraction of why has."
],
"id": "en-why's-en-contraction-iNTfRqSK",
"links": [
[
"why",
"why#English"
],
[
"has",
"has#English"
]
],
"tags": [
"abbreviation",
"alt-of",
"contraction"
]
},
{
"alt_of": [
{
"word": "why does"
}
],
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
0,
5
]
],
"text": "Why's he want to do that?",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Contraction of why does."
],
"id": "en-why's-en-contraction-8Pp5PFDw",
"links": [
[
"why",
"why#English"
],
[
"does",
"does#English"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(less common) Contraction of why does."
],
"tags": [
"abbreviation",
"alt-of",
"contraction",
"uncommon"
]
}
],
"word": "why's"
}
{
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "noun form"
},
"expansion": "why's",
"name": "head"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English plurals in -'s",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "Alternative forms: whys, whies"
},
{
"text": "1977: I was never able to stop the search for the why's and how's of something so senseless as the arms race. (Nobel Peace Prize Alva Myrdal)"
}
],
"form_of": [
{
"word": "why"
}
],
"glosses": [
"plural of why"
],
"id": "en-why's-en-noun-dUFrrZMe",
"links": [
[
"why",
"why#English"
]
],
"tags": [
"form-of",
"plural"
]
}
],
"word": "why's"
}
{
"categories": [
"English contractions",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English non-lemma forms",
"English noun forms",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries"
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "contraction",
"head": ""
},
"expansion": "why's",
"name": "head"
},
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "why's",
"name": "en-cont"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "contraction",
"senses": [
{
"alt_of": [
{
"word": "why is"
}
],
"categories": [
"English contractions",
"English terms with usage examples"
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
50,
55
]
],
"text": "I don't want to go to college next year - Really? Why’s that?",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Contraction of why is."
],
"links": [
[
"why",
"why#English"
],
[
"is",
"is#English"
]
],
"tags": [
"abbreviation",
"alt-of",
"contraction"
]
},
{
"alt_of": [
{
"word": "why has"
}
],
"categories": [
"English contractions",
"English terms with usage examples"
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
0,
5
]
],
"text": "Why's everyone gone home?",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Contraction of why has."
],
"links": [
[
"why",
"why#English"
],
[
"has",
"has#English"
]
],
"tags": [
"abbreviation",
"alt-of",
"contraction"
]
},
{
"alt_of": [
{
"word": "why does"
}
],
"categories": [
"English contractions",
"English terms with usage examples"
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
0,
5
]
],
"text": "Why's he want to do that?",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Contraction of why does."
],
"links": [
[
"why",
"why#English"
],
[
"does",
"does#English"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(less common) Contraction of why does."
],
"tags": [
"abbreviation",
"alt-of",
"contraction",
"uncommon"
]
}
],
"word": "why's"
}
{
"categories": [
"English contractions",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English non-lemma forms",
"English noun forms",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries"
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "noun form"
},
"expansion": "why's",
"name": "head"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English plurals in -'s"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "Alternative forms: whys, whies"
},
{
"text": "1977: I was never able to stop the search for the why's and how's of something so senseless as the arms race. (Nobel Peace Prize Alva Myrdal)"
}
],
"form_of": [
{
"word": "why"
}
],
"glosses": [
"plural of why"
],
"links": [
[
"why",
"why#English"
]
],
"tags": [
"form-of",
"plural"
]
}
],
"word": "why's"
}
Download raw JSONL data for why's meaning in All languages combined (2.3kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-05-19 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-05-01 using wiktextract (c3cc510 and 1d3fdbf). 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.