what for
what for adverb: for what purpose.
Adverb
what for (not comparable)
Noun
what for (plural what fors)
- An unspecified punishment or rebuke.
- When your dad gets home, he'll give you (a) what for.
- - Fagin, I'm waiting.
- Waiting, my dear? What for?
- Bill will give you "what for" if you don't fork out.1968, Oliver!, 01:12:40
what for meaning in Tamil, Sinhala, Pashto and Tagalog
what for in Tamil
- for what purpose
- எதற்கு etaṟku
- for what reason; why
- எதற்கு etaṟku
what for in Sinhala
- what for...?
- මොට moṭa
what for in Pashto
- what for, why
- څنګه śənga
what for in Tagalog
- for what purpose
- para saan
- for what reason; why
- para saan
More languagesFewer languages
- what for in Arabic
- لِمَ lima, لِمَاذَا limāḏā
- what for in Malay
- untuk apa
- what for in Indonesian
- untuk apa
Forms of what for
| Adverb | |
|---|---|
| alternative form | for what |
| alternative form | whuffo |
| Noun | |
| plural | what fors |
Questions about what for
- What does what for mean?
- What for means for what purpose.
- What is what for in Tamil?
- What for in Tamil is எதற்கு (etaṟku). See What for meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is what for?
- What for can be an adverb or a noun.
Words near what for in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: what for (page history and authors); මොට (Sinhala) (page history and authors); څنګه (Pashto) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-what for.ogg.
Cite this entry: “what for.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/what_for. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.