whatnot

Etymology

It is formed from English what + not,^[2][3][4][5] from the question “what not?”.^[3][6][7] Etymonline explains it as short for “what may I not say”, implying everything else.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Anything whatever, everything: 1540,^[8][3] as two words, in John Palsgrave's translation of Gnapheus's Latin play Acolastus, which asks “what not?” after a list of things lost.^[9]

Semantic evolution

As the last item of a list, meaning other things of the kind, it is found in Samuel Pepys's diary in 1663, according to Grammarphobia, citing the OED.^[9] From 1602 it also meant a nondescript thing or person,^[8][10] and later a euphemism for something the speaker does not want to name (1964).^[8][2] In 1808 it became the name of a stand with open shelves, so called for the assorted objects it holds,^[4][8] and the plural whatnots came to be used for miscellaneous things or bric-a-brac.^[8][4] The 1989 edition of the OED and Etymonline both note that careful writers preferred two words in the sense "anything".^[8][4]

Timeline

• 1540 – anything whatever; everything.^[8][3]
• 1602 – a nondescript person or thing.^[8][10]
• 1663 – as the last item of a list, other similar things.^[9]
• 1808 – a stand with open shelves for ornaments.^[8][4]
• before 1861 – plural, miscellaneous things; bric-a-brac.^[8]
• 1964 – a euphemism for something one prefers not to name.^[8]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. Other things of the same kind, as the last item of a list, usually after and: She packed sandwiches, apples and whatnot.^[3][10][2]

Noun

1. A person or thing whose name is unknown, forgotten or not worth giving; a thingamajig.^[11][10][3]
2. A minor or unspecified article; in the plural, assorted odds and ends, bric-a-brac.^[12][11][2]
3. A light stand with open shelves one above another, for displaying ornaments.^{[11][10][12][8]}

Related words

• whatsit
• what
• not
• what-all

Usage notes

Dalzell notes that the word is usually a habit of individual speakers rather than of a group, and is often used with annoying regularity.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
6. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c O'Conner, Patricia T.; Kellerman, Stewart, The Grammarphobia Blog, grammarphobia.com, p. "What about ‘whatnot’?", 16 May 2018
10. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
13. ^ Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge