what's up

English

Alternative forms

• (nonstandard/slang:) wassup, what up, waz up, wazzup, whassup, wuzzup, wussup, sup, wa'up, swa'up, 'sup

Etymology

Made popular by the cartoon character Bugs Bunny as part of his catch phrase “What’s up Doc?”, as early as 1940.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Phrase

what's up?

1. (idiomatic, colloquial, with up in the sense of "of concern") What’s the matter? What is the problem? What is wrong?

   You're looking a bit miserable. What's up?

   I got a call saying to come straight away. What's up?

   • 1884, Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn:

     Hello, what's up? Don't cry bub. What's the trouble?

   • 1912, W. Somerset Maugham, Lady Frederick: A Comedy in Three Acts, Act 1:

     Lady Frederick: Oh lord, I wish I were eighteen. [She sinks into a chair, and an expression of utter weariness comes over her face.]

     Gerald: I say, what's up?

     Lady Frederick: [Starting.] I thought you'd gone. Nothing.

2. (idiomatic, colloquial, chiefly US, with up in the sense of "happening") What's happening? What are you doing?

   Synonyms: what's happening, what's new, what's the haps

   Hey, what's up? – Not much, just working.

3. (rhetorical question, colloquial) A casual greeting with a meaning similar to how are you? or nice to meet you.

   Hey, what's up? – Hey! Good to see you.

Usage notes

Sometimes, people give sarcastic responses to this question, such as "the sky" or "the ceiling" (or anything that is above the speaker).

Translations

What’s the matter? What is the problem? What is wrong?

• Hungarian: mi a baj?
• Spanish: ¿qué pasa?, ¿cuál es el problema?

• Vietnamese: sao vậy?
• Welsh: beth sy'n bod

What’s happening? What are you doing?

• Hungarian: mi a helyzet?
• Spanish: ¿qué pasa?, ¿qué ocurre?, ¿qué estás haciendo?

• Urdu: کیا ہو رہا ہے؟‎ (kyā ho raha hai?)
• Vietnamese: gì vậy?

How are you?

• American Sign Language: Open8@Chest-PalmBack-Open8@Chest-PalmBack Open8@SideNeckhigh-PalmBack-Open8@SideNeckhigh-PalmBack
• Arabic:

  Egyptian Arabic: عامل ايه؟‎ (ʿāmil ʾī?)

• Bikol Central:

  Bikol Legazpi: nom

  Bikol Naga: tara

• Breton: petra zo? (br)
• Catalan: què hi ha?
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 怎麼樣 (zh), 怎么样 (zh) (zěnmeyàng)

• Danish: hvad så?, hva' så?
• Dutch: wat is er?, hoe gaat het?
• Finnish: miten menee? (fi), mitä kuuluu? (fi), kuinkas hurisee? (fi), mikä on?, mitäs +person's name? (fi)
• French: quoi de neuf ? (fr)
• Galician: que tal?, que hai?, como lle vai?
• Georgian: რას შვრები (ras švrebi)
• German: wie geht’s? (de), was läuft?, was geht?, was geht ab?
• Greek: τι γίνεται; (ti gínetai?)
• Hebrew: מה קורה‎
• Hungarian: mizu? (hu), mizus? mizujs? (abbreviations of mi újság?)
• Icelandic: hvað segist?, hvað er að frétta?, hvað er títt?

• Ido: quo eventas?
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: çi heye, çi heye çi nîne (ku)

• Latin: quid novi?
• Luganda: eradde?, agafaayo?, agafa eyo? (to an intimate friend), mawulire ki?
• Navajo: haʼíí baa naniná?, ąąʼ haʼíí?
• Nepali: तिमीलाई कस्तो छ? (timīlāī kasto cha?)(formal), के छ? (ke cha?)(informal)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hva skjer?

  Nynorsk: kva skjer?

• Persian: چه خبر؟‎ (če xabar?)
• Polish: jak leci? (pl), jak tam? (pl), co słychać? (pl)
• Portuguese: e aí? (pt), tudo em cima?, tudo bem? (pt)
• Russian: как дела́? (ru) (kak delá?), в чём де́ло? (v čóm délo?), что случи́лось? (što slučílosʹ?), чё-как? (čó-kak?) (informal)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: što ima? (literary), kaj ima? (kajkavian dialect), šta ima? (informal), šta je? (rude)

• Slovene: kako si, kje si?, kaj bo dobrega?, kako gre?, kaj dogaja? (informal)
• Spanish: ¿qué tal?, ¿qué pasa?, ¿cómo estás?
• Swedish: läget? (sv)
• Thai: ว่าไง
• Turkish: ne haber? (n'aber?), naber
• Urdu: کیا حال ہے؟‎ n (kyā hāl hai?)
• Welsh: siwmae

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} مَهْيَمْ‎ (ar) (mahyam)
• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} מה נשמע‎
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} ce s-a întâmplat?

• Shona: ^{(please verify)} ndeipi
• Slovene: ^{(please verify)} kaj dogaja?
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} ఏం జరిగింది (ēṃ jarigindi), ^{(please verify)} ఏమైంది (ēmaindi) (1); ^{(please verify)} ఏంటి సంగతులు (ēṇṭi saṅgatulu), ^{(please verify)} ఏంటి కబుర్లు (ēṇṭi kaburlu), ^{(please verify)} ఏంటి విశేషాలు (ēṇṭi viśēṣālu) (2)

See also

• what's up with
• what's up Doc