whither
/ˈwɪðəː/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.52 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adv
noun
A place to which someone or something goes; also, a condition to which someone or something moves.
Formal
Example Sentences
- "Whither wilt thou wander, wayfarer?"
- "When as wee duely conſider, whether euery way leadeth, or wiſely ponder with our ſelues to what end we refer each one of our actions, and exact of our ſtraying thoughts a more ſeuere account of their wandering courſe, we ſhal find no victory ſo great, as the ſubduing of vice, nothing ſo hard as to liue well, no ſuch vneſtimable iewell, as an honeſt conuerſation: […]"
- "2. Out. [Second Outlaw] VVhether trauell you? / Val[entine]. To Verona. / 1. Out. [First Outlaw] VVhence came you? / Val. From Millaine."
- "O Jove! he cry'd, for vvhat Offence have I / Deſerv'd to bear this endleſs Infamy: / VVhence am I forc'd, and vvhether am I born, / Hovv, and vvith vvhat Reproach ſhall I return?"
- "You vvill go avvay: VVhither vvill you go? and vvhat can you do? I vvould as vvillingly go avvay as you, if I knevv vvhither: But vve have no Acquaintance, no Friends. Here vve vvere born, and here vve muſt die."
- ""Whither are we going?" inquired the lady tragically. "How should I know?" replied Trott with singular coolness; for the events of the evening had completely hardened him."
Etymology
From Middle English whider (“to what place?; into or to which; to what place, where; no matter where, to wherever”), from Old English hwider, hwæder (“to what place, where”), from Proto-Germanic *hwadrê (“to what place, where”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷos (“what; which”), from *kʷ- (the primary interrogative root).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
whither away
Modern wordPreposition