One of the five W's

The answer

WHAT

4 letters. See every clue for this answer on the WHAT answer page.

Used 13 times across 11 distinct years; most recently in 2024; first recorded in 1997. It appears in 8 publications in the xd corpus. Frequency and last-seen figures come from the xd crossword corpus only.

Other answers for this clue

The same clue has also been answered these ways in the xd corpus. Answers inside this collection link to their own answer page.

• WHO (49 uses in xd)
• WHERE (13 uses in xd)
• WHY (8 uses in xd)
• WHEN (5 uses in xd)

Other clues for WHAT

Every other clue in this collection answered by WHAT, most used first.

• "Huh?" - used 67 times, most recently in 2026
• "Come again?" - used 55 times, most recently in 2026
• "Are you serious?" - used 14 times, most recently in 2023
• "Could you repeat that?" - used 12 times, most recently in 2026
• "Can you repeat that?" - used 10 times, most recently in 2025
• "Excuse me?" - used 10 times, most recently in 2026
• Request for repetition - used 9 times, most recently in 2022
• "Say that again?" - used 9 times, most recently in 2026
• Exclamation of surprise. - used 8 times, most recently in 1964
• "I beg your pardon?" - used 8 times, most recently in 2018
• Reporter's query - used 8 times, most recently in 2013
• "Eh?" - used 7 times, most recently in 2014
• "Say again?" - used 7 times, most recently in 2022
• Reporter's question - used 6 times, most recently in 2006
• Second baseman of comedy - used 6 times, most recently in 2023

Related clues

Clues in this collection of the same answer length that share a word with this clue, or match its answer pattern when no word is shared. Most used first.

• Up to the task - ABLE, used 397 times
• In the thick of - AMID, used 377 times
• On the briny - ASEA, used 364 times
• From the top - ANEW, used 355 times
• Spill the beans - BLAB, used 313 times
• Away from the wind - ALEE, used 282 times

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