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what's new

what's new

48 2.4
To ask what has happened recently in someone's life
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : qué hay de nuevo
  • Hey, what's new? I haven't seen you in ages.
  • know what's new

Examples

Synonyms

what's the story
vswhat's new
  • Informal
34 8.2

Asking for news or details about a person's situation informally

asks specifically about recent developments or changes rather than general background
to how goes
vswhat's new
  • Literature
19 9.6

To ask how things are going, for example about work or a project

asks about recent developments or changes instead of ongoing progress

How Casual

what's up
  • Informal
554 7.2
what's new
  • Informal
48 2.4

Surface Forms

what's new main

Morphology

what's + new

The phrase is a direct contraction of 'what is new' and its meaning ('the recent or newly added items/changes') follows transparently from 'what's' (what is) + 'new' (recent). As a common webpage or section title, this compositional interpretation is cross-linguistically familiar and readily accessible to a B1 learner who knows the constituents.

Etymology

What's new comes from people asking returning messengers or friends 'what's news'. They were literally asking what is new, so the phrase now means 'tell me about recent events'.