how goes it

phrase

An informal greeting roughly equivalent to how are you.

OriginGerman wie geht es ← Dutch hoe gaat het ← Danish hvordan går det →
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Meanings

phrasehow goes it?
  1. idiomaticAn informal greeting roughly equivalent to how are you.

    Here comes the Lady Paulina's Steward: hee can deliuer you more. How goes it now (Sir.)

    c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], page 300, column 2
    1 more example

    ‘Scotty, man, how goes it?’ Bennie said, patting me warmly on the back as we shook hands.

    2010, Jennifer Egan, “X's and O's”, in A Visit from the Goon Squad

Origin

  1. Danishhvordan går det
  2. Dutchhoe gaat het
  3. Germanwie geht es
  4. Englishhow goes it

The phrase is a regular Early Modern English equivalent of how's it going (when neither progressive tenses nor do-support were obligatory). As such it could have survived through regional dialects. Nevertheless modern usage is likely a calque of German wie geht es, perhaps additionally also Dutch hoe gaat het, Danish hvordan går det, etc.

More words from German, Dutch, Danish

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

how goes it. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/how%20goes%20it

MLA

“how goes it.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/how%20goes%20it. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “how goes it,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/how%20goes%20it.

Source: how goes it on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.