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whence. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
whence, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
whence in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
From Middle English whennes, from Old English hwanon (with adverbial genitive -s), related to hwonne (whence when). Analyzable as when + -s.
Pronunciation
Adverb
whence (not comparable)
- (archaic, formal or literary) From where; from which place or source.
- Antonym: whither
Whence came I?
"Pork" comes from French, whence we get most of our modern cooking terms.
Go to whence you came!
1611, The Holy Bible, (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, John 8:14, column 1:Ieſus anſwered, and ſaid vnto them, Though I beare record of my ſelfe, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I goe: but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I goe.
1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “A Further Account of Glubbdubdrib. ”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. , volume II, London: Benj Motte, , →OCLC, part III (A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdribb, Luggnagg, and Japan), page 108:I could plainly diſcover from whence one Family derives a long Chin; why a ſecond hath abounded with Knaves for two Generations, and Fools for two more; why a third happened to be crack-brained, and a fourth to be Sharpers.
1818, [Mary Shelley], chapter III, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. , volume I, London: for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, →OCLC, pages 81–82:Whence, I often asked myself, did the principle of life proceed?
1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Sea Chest”, in Treasure Island, London, Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC, part I (The Old Buccaneer), page 29:[W]hat greatly encouraged me, it was in an opposite direction from that whence the blind man had made his appearance, and whither he had presumably returned.
1883, A. E. Housman, Fragment of a Greek Tragedy:O suitably-attired-in-leather-boots
Head of a traveller, wherefore seeking whom
Whence by what way how purposed art thou come
To this well-nightingaled vicinity?
1885, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, “The Seventh Voyage of Sindbad the Seaman”, in A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, now Entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night , Shammar edition, volume VI, : Burton Club , →OCLC, page 71:[…] But when I had bestridden the plank, quoth I to myself, "Thou deservest all that betideth thee. All this is decreed to me of Allah (whose name be exalted!), to turn me from my greed of gain, whence ariseth all that I endure, for I have wealth galore."
1898, J. Meade Falkner, “A Discovery”, in Moonfleet, London, Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, page 47:At first I could not tell what this new sound was, nor whence it came, and now it seemed a little noise close by, and now a great noise in the distance. And then it grew nearer and more defined, and in a moment I knew it was the sound of voices talking.
1936, Robert Frost, “The Vindictives”, in A Further Range:They swore all the gold should go back
Deep into the earth whence it came.
Usage notes
- This word is uncommon in contemporary usage; from where is now usually substituted (as in the example sentence: Where did I come from? or From where did I come?). Whence is now mainly encountered in older works and in poetic or literary writing. As a result of the obsolescence of the older directional verb system, words like whence and its antonym whither are sometimes used interchangeably as hypercorrect synonyms of where.
2017 November 17, “”, in The Northern Times:I remember my father telling me of the 11th of November in London, whence he had gone from Tain to work, in the 1930s.
- From whence has a strong literary precedent, appearing in Wyclif's Bible translation, Shakespeare and the King James Bible, as well as in the writings of numerous Victorian-era writers. In recent times, however, it has been criticized as redundant by some usage commentators.
Derived terms
Terms derived from whence
Related terms
Translations
from where; from which place or source
- Arabic: مِن أَيْن (min ʔayn), مِن حَيْثُ (min ḥayṯu)
- North Levantine Arabic: منين (mnen)
- Armenian: ուստի (hy) (usti)
- Azerbaijani: haradan, hardan
- Bashkir: ҡайҙан (qayźan)
- Basque: nondik
- Belarusian: адку́ль (adkúlʹ)
- Bulgarian: откъде́ (bg) (otkǎdé)
- Catalan: d'on, des d'on
- Czech: odkud (cs)
- Danish: hvorfra, hvoraf, hveden
- Dutch: waarvandaan (nl)
- Esperanto: de kie, el kie
- Faroese: hvaðani
- Finnish: mistä (fi)
- Fore: forrt, gerrt
- French: d’où (fr)
- Georgian: საიდან (saidan), საიდანაც (saidanac)
- German: woher (de)
- Gothic: 𐍈𐌰𐌸𐍂𐍉 (ƕaþrō)
- Greek: αφού (el) (afoú)
- Ancient: πόθεν (póthen) (direct interrogative), ὅθεν (hóthen) (relative), ὁπόθεν (hopóthen) (indirect interrogative)
- Hebrew: מֵאַיִן (meáin), מִנַּיִן (he) (minnáin)
- Hungarian: (interrogative) honnan (hu), honnét (hu), miből, (relative) ahonnan (hu), ahonnét (hu), amiből (hu), amelyből
- Icelandic: hvaðan (is)
- Ido: deube (io)
- Ingrian: kust, mist
- Italian: onde (it), donde (it), da dove
- Japanese: どこから (doko kara)
- Korean: 어디서 (eodiseo)
- Latin: unde (la)
- Macedonian: од каде (od kade)
- Maori: nō hea, nō whea
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: hvorfra
- Nynorsk: kvar ifrå, kor ifrå
- Old English: hwanon
- Polish: skąd (pl)
- Portuguese: donde (pt), de onde
- Quechua: maymanta
- Romanian: de unde
- Russian: отку́да (ru) (otkúda)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Roman: odakle (sh), otkud (sh)
- Shor: қайдаң
- Slovak: odkiaľ
- Slovene: od kod, od koder
- Spanish: de donde, desde donde
- Swedish: varifrån (sv), var i från, vadan (sv)
- Tibetan: ག་ནས (ga nas)
- Turkish: nereden (tr)
- Ukrainian: зві́дки (zvídky)
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Conjunction
whence
- (literary, poetic) Used for introducing the result of a fact that has just been stated; thence
The work is slow and dangerous, whence the high costs.
I scored more than you in the exam, whence we can conclude that I am better at the subject than you are.
Antonyms
Related terms
Translations
Translations to be checked
- Danish: hvorfra, hvoraf
- Dutch: (please verify) waarvandaan (nl), (please verify) waar … vandaan…
- Esperanto: el kie
- German: (please verify) woher (de)
- Greek: πούθε (el) (poúthe), από πού (apó poú), από όπου (apó ópou)
- Macedonian: откаде (otkade)
- Romanian: de unde
- Russian: отку́да (ru) (otkúda), отсю́да (ru) (otsjúda), сле́довательно (ru) (slédovatelʹno), зна́чит (ru) (znáčit)
- Swedish: varav (sv), var av, varifrån (sv), var i från, vadan (sv)
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