whence

From Middle English whennes, from Old English hwanon (with adverbial genitive -s), related to hwonne (whence when). Analyzable as when +‎ -s.

• enPR: hwĕns, IPA^(key): /ʍɛns/
• (wine-whine) enPR: wĕns, IPA^(key): /wɛns/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -ɛns

whence (not comparable)

1. (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. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] 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.

   • 1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter III, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume I, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →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, [London]: […] 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[ohn] Meade Falkner, “A Discovery”, in Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC, 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.

• This word is archaic 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, as seen in the example below.

2017 November 17, “We rightly remember those who fell across Europe and beyond”, in The Northern Times‎^[1]:

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 (literally, “from from-where”), despite being a redundant construction, has a strong literary precedent, mainly for poetic effect, appearing in Wyclif's Bible translation (one of the earliest ones), Shakespeare's works, and the King James Bible, as well as in the writings of numerous Victorian-era writers. In recent times, however, its pleonastic character has been criticized by some usage commentators.

• hence
• thence

whence

1. (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.

• whither

• hence
• thence