"Why" • Chinese-English Dictionary

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为何 wèi hé why
何以 hé yǐ (literary) why / how
怎的 zěn de what for / why / how
怎生 zěn shēng how / why
何 hé what / how / why / which / carry
曷 hé why / how / when / what / where
何为 hé wèi (old) why
所以 suǒ yǐ therefore / as a result / so / the reason why
为什么 wèi shén me why? / for what reason?
倒是 dào shi contrary to what one might expect / actually / contrariwise / why don't you
之所以 zhī suǒ yǐ (after a noun N and before a predicate P) the reason why N P / Example: 我之所以討厭他|我之所以讨厌他[wo3 zhi1suo3yi3 tao3yan4 ta1] "the reason why I dislike him (is ...)"
何必 hé bì there is no need / why should
干嘛 gàn má what are you doing? / whatever for? / why on earth?
何不 hé bù why not? / why not do (sth)?
怪不得 guài bu de no wonder! / so that's why!
何苦 hé kǔ why bother? / is it worth the trouble?
缘何 yuán hé why? / for what reason?
所以然 suǒ yǐ rán the reason why
何须 hé xū there is no need / why should
奚 xī (literary) what? / where? / why?
盍 hé why not
割鸡焉用牛刀 gē jī yān yòng niú dāo lit. why use a pole-ax to slaughter a chicken? (idiom) / fig. to waste effort on a trifling matter / also written 殺雞焉用牛刀|杀鸡焉用牛刀[sha1 ji1 yan1 yong4 niu2 dao1]
哪门子 nǎ mén zi (coll.) (emphasizing a rhetorical question) what / what kind / why on earth
干麽 gàn má why on earth / whatever for
怎么说呢 zěn me shuō ne Why is that? / How come?
何苦呢 hé kǔ ne why bother? / is it worth the trouble?
故云 gù yún that's why it is called...
為什麼 wèi shén me variant of 為甚麼|为什么, why? / for what reason?
凭什么 píng shén me (spoken) why? / for which reason?
何出此言 hé chū cǐ yán where do these words stem from? / why do you (he, etc) say such a thing?
知其然而不知其所以然 zhī qí rán ér bù zhī qí suǒ yǐ rán (idiom) to know that it is so but not why it is so
为毛 wèi máo (Internet slang) why?
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