what the

From various expressions such as what the sam hill, what the hey, what the heck, what the hell and what the fuck by aposiopesis.

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what the … ?

1. (by ellipsis) Used to express astonishment or incredulity, as a question or questioning of the situation at hand, without requiring any specific vulgarity as intensifier.
   • 1940, as realization dawns that he is turning into a donkey, in Pinocchio (motion-picture), spoken by Lampwick (Frankie Darrow), Burbank: Disney; distributed by RKO Radio Pictures:

     Hee haw! Did that come out of me? Oh! Huh? What the …? What's going on? Ahhh!

• thaweth