how do you do

how do you do

English

Alternative forms

• how-do-you-do, how-d'ye-do (noun)

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Phrase

how do you do?

1. (formal) A greeting used upon being introduced to someone. Alternatives are pleased to meet you and nice to meet you. (Sometimes used as a rhetorical question among familiar parties, depending on the region).
   • 1913, Eleanor H. Porter, chapter 8, in Pollyanna‎, L.C. Page, OCLC 33897078:

     "How do you do?" began Pollyanna politely. "I'm from Miss Polly Harrington, and I'd like to see Mrs. Snow, please."

Usage notes

In obsolete usage, this phrase could be inflected: I asked him how he did.

Related terms

• how are you doing (less formal)
• howdy (informal)

Translations

Phrase: how do you do

Abkhaz: (to a woman) бышҧаҟоу (bəŝpaqʼow), (to a man) ушҧаҟоу (uŝpaqʼow), (to more than one person) шәышҧаҟақоу (ŝʷəŝpaqʼakow) Arabic: تَشَرَّفْنَا‎ (tašarrafnā) Catalan: encantat (ca) m, encantada (ca) f, encantat de coneixe't Chinese: Cantonese: 幸會, 幸会 (hang6 wui6) Mandarin: 幸會／幸会 (zh) (xìnghuì), 請多關照／请多关照 (zh) (qǐng duō guānzhào), 您好 (zh) (nínhǎo) Czech: těší mě Dutch: hoe gaat het, hoe gaat het met jou (informal), hoe gaat het met u (formal), hoe maakt u het (formal) Estonian: kuidas läheb Faroese: hvussu gongur Finnish: hyvää päivää (fi) French: enchanté (fr) m, enchantée (fr) f Galician: encantado m German: sehr erfreut, sehr angenehm, wie geht es dir (de) Greek: χαίρω πολύ (el) (chaíro polý) Hiligaynon: kamusta Hungarian: örvendek, örvendek a szerencsének, örülök, hogy megismerhetem Indonesian: apa kabar? (id) Italian: piacere di conoscerla m or f, come va, tutto bene Japanese: 初めまして (ja) (はじめまして, hajimemashite), (very formal) 始めてお目にかかります (はじめておめにかかります, hajimete o-me ni kakarimasu), 御機嫌よう, ご機嫌よう (ごきげんよう, gokigen yō) Kazakh: сәлеметсіз бе (sälemetsız be), амансыз ба (amansyz ba) Korean: 안녕하십니까 (annyeong-hasimnikka) Latin: quid agis? (said to one person), quid agitis? (said to more than one person) Macedonian: мило ми е (milo mi e), драго ми е (drago mi e) Navajo: nizhónígo ałhééhosiilzįįd Norwegian: Bokmål: formal: gleder meg (literally “I am pleased (to meet you)”), more informal: hyggelig å møte deg, hvordan har du det Persian: از آشنایی شما خوشوقتم‎ (az ashenaeiyeh shoma khoshvaghtam) Polish: jak się masz (pl) (informal, to a singular listener), jak się macie (informal, to many listeners), jak leci (pl) (colloquial), jak tam (pl) (informal) Portuguese: muito prazer Romanian: mă bucur să te cunosc, e o plăcere să te cunosc Russian: о́чень прия́тно (óčenʹ prijátno), как дела́? (ru) (kak delá?), прия́тно познако́миться (prijátno poznakómitʹsja) Spanish: encantado (es) (said by a male), encantada (es) (said by a female), ¿cómo está usted? Swedish: hur står det till (formal), hur är det med dig (informal) Tagalog: kumusta (tl) Turkish: nasılsınız (formal), ne var ne yok (informal)

Noun

how do you do (plural how do you dos)

1. (UK, euphemistic) A difficult situation
   • 1993, Nick Park, Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers:

     Well, this is a fine how do you do isn't it, Gromit?

   • 2010, Michael Sledge, The More I Owe You: A Novel, Counterpoint Press, →ISBN, page 78:

     On the winding road to Petropolis, they did not speak, not about modernism or the construction of houses or antique bird jails or fine how-do-you-dos.

   • 2013, Chris Raschka, Seriously, Norman!, Scholastic Inc., →ISBN, page 115:

     "Vienna!" Mr. B. went on. "This is a bit of a how-do-you-do, is it not?"