thereto

From Middle English therto, from Old English þǣrtō (“thereto”), equivalent to there +‎ to. Cognate with Scots tharto, thereto (“thereto”), Saterland Frisian deertou (“thereto”), West Frisian dêrta (“thereto”), Dutch daartoe (“thereto; for that”), German Low German daarto (“to that; for that; thereto”), German dazu (“to that; for that; thereto”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌðɛəˈtuː/

  • Audio (Southern England):

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• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌðɛɚˈtuː/
• Rhymes: -uː

thereto (not comparable)

1. (formal) To that.
   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H Rider Haggard, “Ayesha Unveils”, in She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC, page 157:

     'There,' she went on, 'it [a scarab] must be one like it, and yet never did I see one like it, for thereto hung a history, and he who wore it prized it much.[']

2. (archaic or poetic) To it.
   • 1840 March, Robert Browning, “Book the Fourth”, in Sordello, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC, page 154:

     He strung the angelot; / Made rhymes thereto; […]

   • c. 1955-1956 (written, published c. 1997), Jack Kerouac, Some of the Dharma:

     A man who allows wild passion to arise within, himself burns his heart, then after burning adds the wind that thereto which ignites the fire again, or not, as the case may be.

• thitherto