どういう どういう pre-noun adjectival what kind of; what sort of grammatical 1. what kind of; what sort of A prenominal expression asking about the nature, type, or meaning of something. It always precedes a noun. どういう意味(いみ)ですか。🔊 What do you mean? (lit. what kind of meaning?) どういう人(ひと)が好(す)きですか。🔊 What kind of person do you like? どういうわけか、彼(かれ)は何(なに)も言(い)わなかった。🔊 For some reason, he said nothing. From どう (how) + 言(い)う (to say). It precedes a noun to ask about its kind, nature, or meaning.Common expressionsどういう意味(いみ): what does it mean?どういうこと: what's going on? / what do you mean?どういうわけか: for some reasonSimilar wordsどんな: what kind of — more casual and more common in everyday speech; どういう is a little more formal and often asks for an explanationどうして: why — asks for a reason rather than a type Related Words Compare: どんな (what kind of) Related: こういう (this kind of) general Added 2026.5.26 12:08 · Revised 2026.9.2 13:02 28000/28147_douiu