whither
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old English hwider, alteration of hwæder, from Proto-Germanic *hwadrê.
PronunciationEdit
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈʍɪðɚ/; enPR: hwĭthʹər
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈʍɪðə/
- (in accents with the wine-whine merger) IPA(key): /ˈwɪðɚ/, /ˈwɪðə/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɪðə(ɹ)
- Homophone: wither (in accents with the wine-whine merger)
AdverbEdit
whither (not comparable)
- (archaic, formal, poetic or literary) To what place.
- 1611, King James BibleWikisource, John 8:14:
- 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Sea-chest”, in Treasure IslandWikisource:
- [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.
- 1885, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Penguin Red Classics, paperback edition, page 24
- And with the same grave countenance he hurried through his breakfast and drove to the police station, whither the body had been carried.
- 1918, Willa Cather, My Antonia, Mirado Modern Classics, paperback edition, page 8
- The wagon jolted on, carrying me I knew not whither.
Usage notesEdit
- This word is unusual in modern usage; (to) where is much more common. It is more often encountered in older works or when used poetically.
- It is also sometimes used as a rhetorical device by journalists and other writers in headlines, with the meaning "What will the future bring for ..."
- Do not confuse with whether or wither.
- Compare to the inanimate pronoun "whereto" which follows the pattern of "preposition + what" or "preposition + which".
AntonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
Terms derived from whither
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
to which place
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VerbEdit
whither (third-person singular simple present whithers, present participle whithering, simple past and past participle whithered)
- (intransitive, obsolete, dialectal) To wuther.