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?

(formal) A greeting used upon being introduced to someone. Alternatives are how are you, 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:
  "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)
Asturian: encantáu (ast) (said by a male), encantada (ast) (said by a female),Encantáu de coñocete, ¿Cómu tás?
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
Danish: goddag (da), (det) glæder mig
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 (hu), örvendek a szerencsének (hu), örülök, hogy megismerhetem (hu)
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 âšenâyi-ye šomâ xošvaqtam)
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)
Tillamook: dəʔ šʔálen̓əxʷš
Turkish: nasılsınız (formal), ne var ne yok (informal)

Noun

how do you do (plural how do you dos)

(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?"

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