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''whence'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260202202216-00-⌔

whence - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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!
    • ✤ That envy whence comes hate.
    • ✤ 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.1
    • ✤ 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.2
    • ✤ * Whence, I often asked myself, did the principle of life proceed?*3
    • ✤ [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.4
    • ✤ 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?      5
    • ✤ […] 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.”6
    • ✤ 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.7
    • ✤ They swore all the gold should go back
      Deep into the earth whence it came.      8

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.

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • enPR: hwĕns, IPA: /ʍɛns/
  • (wine-whine merger) enPR: wĕns, IPA: /wɛns/
  • Audio (US): 🔊
  • Audio (Australian): 🔊
  • Rhymes: -ɛns

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 8:14, column 1: ↩

  2. 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: ↩

  3. 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: ↩

  4. 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: ↩

  5. 1883, A. E. Housman, Fragment of a Greek Tragedy: ↩

  6. 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: ↩

  7. [1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, “A Discovery”, in Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC, page 47: ↩

  8. 1936, Robert Frost, “The Vindictives”, in A Further Range: ↩

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