Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

how's your father

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.93 in modern English

Syllables: how's y-our -fa-ther
IPA

29

Scrabble Score

14

Letters

4

Syllables

11

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A whatsit; a thing which the speaker is unable or unwilling to specify more precisely.

British usage; Countable; Slang

noun

Sexual intercourse.

British usage; Slang; Uncountable

Example Sentences

"And meanwhile at the station, there's a couple of likely lads Who swear like how's your father, and they're very cool for cats."
"I popped round Mary's for a bit of how's your father."
"I mean what a buzz, man, me four fans, an’ I'm on the fookin’ telly! They love it! So suddenly it's knickers off and ’ow's your father."

Etymology

A popular catchphrase of the 1910s popularised by music-hall entertainer Harry Tate, who used it for comic effect to change the subject away from one about which his character was ignorant (hence sense 1) or a taboo subject (hence sense 2).

Usage

Inflected Forms

how's your fathers (plural)

Synonyms

Sorted by number of Google hits widget hickey gizmo thingy gimmick thingie jigger gismo gubbins whatsit thingamajig

Questions

What does how's your father mean?: A whatsit; a thing which the speaker is unable or unwilling to specify more precisely.
Where does how's your father come from?: A popular catchphrase of the 1910s popularised by music-hall entertainer Harry Tate, who used it for comic effect to change the subject away from one about which his character was ignorant (hence sense 1) or a taboo subject (hence sense 2).

How to pronounce how's your father

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