how

How is a versatile word in the English language used to ask about the manner, method, or degree of something. As a question word, it seeks information about the way in which an action is performed, a process occurs, or a result is achieved. It can also introduce exclamations or relative clauses in indirect speech, and it appears in fixed phrases such as "how come" or "how long."

In grammar, how functions primarily as an adverb or a conjunction in indirect speech. It can modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs: "How did you solve it?" "How quickly the car accelerated was impressive." In indirect questions, it is embedded in reporting clauses: "She asked how the project would proceed." The word can also operate as a noun in the phrase "know-how," referring to practical knowledge or expertise, and in "the how of something" to discuss the manner of doing it.

Etymology: "how" derives from Old English hu, related to German wie and Dutch hoe, all from a Proto-Germanic root for inquiry into manner. Its usage has expanded in modern English to cover abstract degrees (how much, how far) and to form idiomatic expressions.

See also: how-to, interrogatives, know-how.