Meanings
nounwh-movement (countable and uncountable, plural wh-movements)
plural wh-movements
- countableuncountablehuman sciencesa syntactic phenomenon found in many languages around the world, in which interrogative words (sometimes called wh-words) or phrases show a special word order. Unlike ordinary phrases, such wh-words appear at the beginning of an interrogative clause.
Synonyms: wh-extraction, wh-fronting
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna syntactic phenomenon found in many languages around the world, in which interrogative words (sometimes called wh-words) or phrases show a special word order. Unlike ordinary phrases, such wh-words appear at the beginning of an interrogative clause.
Similar
wh-extractionwh-fronting
Origin
Translations
Chinese Cantonese 疑問詞移位 /疑问词移位
- 疑問詞移位 /疑问词移位 (ji⁴ man⁶ ci⁴ ji⁴ wai⁶)special order in interrogative sentences
Chinese Mandarin 疑問詞移位 /疑问词移位
- 疑問詞移位 /疑问词移位 (yíwèncí yíwèi)special order in interrogative sentences
French mouvement qu-
- mouvement qu-special order in interrogative sentences
Russian перемеще́ние вопроси́тельных сло́в
- перемеще́ние вопроси́тельных сло́в (peremeščénije voprosítelʹnyx slóv)special order in interrogative sentences
Cite this entry
APA
wh-movement. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wh-movement
MLA
“wh-movement.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wh-movement. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wh-movement,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wh-movement.
Source: wh-movement on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.