why's

1. 1
   contractionabbreviationcontraction

   Contraction of why is.

   Why's the meeting starting later than usual today?

   Why's that light still blinking on the dashboard?

   Note

   One spelling, three verbs: the 's after why can stand for is, has or does, and the words that follow tell you which. With is, a subject comes next and then an adjective, a place or an -ing form (why's the light blinking?). It also works as a stock reply of surprise. "Why's that?" asks the speaker to explain what they have just said.

2. 2
   contractionabbreviationcontraction

   Contraction of why has.

   Why's the price of bread risen so sharply this month?

   Why's she left without saying goodbye to anyone?

   Note

   The perfect tense hides in this reading. After the subject comes a past participle such as gone, left or risen, and that participle is the clue that separates it from the "why is" contraction. Why's she left means why has she left. Read the verb form first, and the 's sorts itself out.

3. 3
   noun

   Plural of why; whys is the more usual spelling.

   The report explained the what but ignored the why's entirely.

   Investigators are still working through the why's of the collapse.

   Note

   The apostrophe here marks no missing letters. It is a plural spelling for a short word used as a noun, and it pairs naturally with its partners in questioning. Alva Myrdal, speaking in 1977 as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, searched for "the why's and how's" of the arms race. Each word names a kind of answer: the reasons and the methods.

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