"what gives" meaning in English

See what gives in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Phrase

Etymology: First attested in 1940, in John O'Hara's novel Pal Joey. The term is considered by the American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, Second Edition (2013) and several other references to be a calque of German “was gibt's?” and/or a Yiddish equivalent. Brian Joseph considers this unlikely, however, and speculates that despite its extremely late attestation, it and the German was gibt's may "allow[] for a reconstruction of a Proto-West-Germanic existential use of 'give', which survives marginally into present usage." Etymology templates: {{calque|en|de|“was gibt's?”|nocap=1}} calque of German “was gibt's?”, {{cog|yi|-}} Yiddish, {{m|de|es}} es, {{m|de|'s}} 's, {{m|la|habeo}} habeo, {{m|la|habet}} habet Head templates: {{head|en|phrase|head=what gives?}} what gives?
  1. (colloquial) What is wrong? Why is this happening? Tags: colloquial
    Sense id: en-what_gives-en-phrase-lyI5EaIv Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with language name categories using raw markup, English sentences, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 90 4 6 Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 84 5 10 Disambiguation of English sentences: 47 24 29 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 73 6 20
  2. (colloquial) What is happening? What is going on? Tags: colloquial
    Sense id: en-what_gives-en-phrase-lLd36Oab
  3. (colloquial) How are you? Tags: colloquial
    Sense id: en-what_gives-en-phrase-3yh9~BQG
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: what's cooking, what's up with, what's with

Download JSON data for what gives meaning in English (3.1kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "de",
        "3": "“was gibt's?”",
        "nocap": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "calque of German “was gibt's?”",
      "name": "calque"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "yi",
        "2": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Yiddish",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": "es"
      },
      "expansion": "es",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": "'s"
      },
      "expansion": "'s",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "la",
        "2": "habeo"
      },
      "expansion": "habeo",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "la",
        "2": "habet"
      },
      "expansion": "habet",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "First attested in 1940, in John O'Hara's novel Pal Joey. The term is considered by the American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, Second Edition (2013) and several other references to be a calque of German “was gibt's?” and/or a Yiddish equivalent. Brian Joseph considers this unlikely, however, and speculates that despite its extremely late attestation, it and the German was gibt's may \"allow[] for a reconstruction of a Proto-West-Germanic existential use of 'give', which survives marginally into present usage.\"",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase",
        "head": "what gives?"
      },
      "expansion": "what gives?",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "45 53 3",
      "word": "what's cooking"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "45 53 3",
      "word": "what's up with"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "45 53 3",
      "word": "what's with"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "90 4 6",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "84 5 10",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "47 24 29",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English sentences",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "73 6 20",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Not even thirty minutes after leaving the shower, my head starts itching. What gives?",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "What is wrong? Why is this happening?"
      ],
      "id": "en-what_gives-en-phrase-lyI5EaIv",
      "links": [
        [
          "wrong",
          "wrong"
        ],
        [
          "happening",
          "happening"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial) What is wrong? Why is this happening?"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "What gives with you and Martha?",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "What is happening? What is going on?"
      ],
      "id": "en-what_gives-en-phrase-lLd36Oab",
      "links": [
        [
          "happening",
          "happening"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial) What is happening? What is going on?"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "How are you?"
      ],
      "id": "en-what_gives-en-phrase-3yh9~BQG",
      "links": [
        [
          "How are you?",
          "how are you"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial) How are you?"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "John O'Hara",
    "Pal_Joey_(novel)"
  ],
  "word": "what gives"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English phrases",
    "English sentences",
    "English terms calqued from German",
    "English terms derived from German",
    "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "de",
        "3": "“was gibt's?”",
        "nocap": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "calque of German “was gibt's?”",
      "name": "calque"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "yi",
        "2": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Yiddish",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": "es"
      },
      "expansion": "es",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": "'s"
      },
      "expansion": "'s",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "la",
        "2": "habeo"
      },
      "expansion": "habeo",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "la",
        "2": "habet"
      },
      "expansion": "habet",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "First attested in 1940, in John O'Hara's novel Pal Joey. The term is considered by the American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, Second Edition (2013) and several other references to be a calque of German “was gibt's?” and/or a Yiddish equivalent. Brian Joseph considers this unlikely, however, and speculates that despite its extremely late attestation, it and the German was gibt's may \"allow[] for a reconstruction of a Proto-West-Germanic existential use of 'give', which survives marginally into present usage.\"",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase",
        "head": "what gives?"
      },
      "expansion": "what gives?",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "what's cooking"
    },
    {
      "word": "what's up with"
    },
    {
      "word": "what's with"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English colloquialisms",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Not even thirty minutes after leaving the shower, my head starts itching. What gives?",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "What is wrong? Why is this happening?"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "wrong",
          "wrong"
        ],
        [
          "happening",
          "happening"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial) What is wrong? Why is this happening?"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English colloquialisms",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "What gives with you and Martha?",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "What is happening? What is going on?"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "happening",
          "happening"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial) What is happening? What is going on?"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English colloquialisms"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "How are you?"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "How are you?",
          "how are you"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial) How are you?"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "John O'Hara",
    "Pal_Joey_(novel)"
  ],
  "word": "what gives"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-22 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (fc4f0c7 and c937495). 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.