whither

English

WOTD – 8 May 2024

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwɪðə/
• (General American) enPR: wĭthʹər, IPA^(key): /ˈwɪðəɹ/
• (without the wine–whine merger) IPA^(key): /ˈʍɪðə/, /ˈʍɪðəɹ/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Homophone: wither (wine–whine merger)
• Rhymes: -ɪðə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: whi‧ther

Etymology 1

From Middle English whider (“to what place?; into or to which; to what place, where; no matter where, to wherever”),^[1] from Old English hwider, hwæder (“to what place, where”),^[2] from Proto-Germanic *hwadrê (“to what place, where”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷos (“what; which”), from *kʷ- (the primary interrogative root).

Adverb

whither (not comparable) (formal, archaic except literary or poetic)

1. Interrogative senses.
   1. To what place; where.

      Antonym: whence

      • 1589, T[homas] Nashe, The Anatomie of Absurditie: […], London: […] I[ohn] Charlewood for Thomas Hacket, […], →OCLC, signature E.iii., verso:

        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: […]

      • c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 32, column 2:

        2. Out. [Second Outlaw] VVhether trauell you? / Val[entine]. To Verona. / 1. Out. [First Outlaw] VVhence came you? / Val. From Millaine.

      • 1697, Virgil, “The Tenth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 526, lines 943–946:

        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?

      • 1722 March, H[enry] F[oe] [pseudonym; Daniel Defoe], A Journal of the Plague Year: […], London: […] E[lizabeth] Nutt […]; J. Roberts […]; A. Dodd […]; and J. Graves […], →OCLC, page 143:

        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.

      • 1836 February 8, “Boz” [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “The Great Winglebury Duel”, in Sketches by “Boz,” Illustrative of Every-day Life, and Every-day People. […], volume II, London: John Macrone, […], published 1836, →OCLC, page 241:

        "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.

      • 1840 April – 1841 November, Charles Dickens, “Chapter the Twelfth”, in The Old Curiosity Shop. A Tale. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1841, →OCLC, page 156:

        Forth from the city, while it yet slumbered, went the two poor adventurers, wandering they knew not whither.

      • 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Three. The Second of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 103:

        The Spirit did not tarry here, but bade Scrooge hold his robe, and passing on above the moor, sped whither? Not to sea? To sea. To Scrooge's horror, looking back, he saw the last of the land, a frightful range of rocks, behind them; and his ears were deafened by the thundering of water, as it rolled, and roared, and raged among the dreadful caverns it had worn, and fiercely tried to undermine the earth.

      • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, “In Which We Meet an Old Acquaintance”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 571:

        [W]hat was the use of cavalry in a time of profound peace?—and whither the deuce should the hussars ride?

      • 1882, Walter Besant, “The Missing Link”, in All Sorts and Conditions of Men: An Impossible Story […], volume II, London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 136:

        What he did, whither he went, where he died, might be left to conjecture.

   2. (figurative, also humorous) To what (future) cause, condition or state, reason, etc.; where, where next; also (obsolete) to what extent; how far.
      • 1611, Ben[jamin] Jonson, Catiline His Conspiracy, London: […] [William Stansby?] for Walter Burre, →OCLC, Act IIII, signature I3, recto:

        VVhither at length vvilt thou abuſe our patience?

      • 1651 (indicated as 1652), Joseph Hall, “[The Invisible World Discovered to Spiritual Eyes, and Reduced to Useful Meditation. […].] Section IV. The Power of Angels.”, in Josiah Pratt, editor, The Works of the Right Reverend Father in God, Joseph Hall, D.D. […], volume VI (Devotional Works), London: […] C[harles] Whittingham, […]; for Williams and Smith, […], published 1808, →OCLC, 1st book (Of God and His Angels), page 455:

        And, if there fall out any preternatural immutations in the elements, any strange concussations of the earth, any direful prodigies in the sky, whither should they be imputed, but to these mighty angels; whom it pleaseth the Most High God to employ in these extraordinary services?

      • 1818–1819 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Prometheus Unbound”, in Prometheus Unbound […], London: C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier […], published 1820, →OCLC, Act III, scene iv, page 117:

        Alas, / Whither has wandered now my partial tongue / When all remains untold which ye would hear?

      • 1848, [Charles Kingsley], “Murder will Out, and Love too”, in Yeast: A Problem. […], London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], published 1851, →OCLC, page 193:

        'Oh, Lancelot, Lancelot! whither are you forcing me?' / 'I am forcing you no-whither. God, the Father of spirits, is leading you! You, who believe in Him, how dare you fight against Him?'

      • 2018 February 9, Tommie Gorman, “Whither now the DUP?”, in Raidió Teilifís Éireann‎, archived from the original on 2022-07-01:

        Whither now the DUP [Democratic Unionist Party]? In Westminster, Theresa May's minority government continues to rely on the support of ten DUP members for its very survival. But last week may well have seen the consequences as well as the high point of thumbscrew politics.

2. Relative senses.
   1. To which place; also (after a noun denoting a place) to which.
      • 1549 March 7, Thomas Cranmer [et al.], compilers, “The Introites, Collectes, Epistles, and Gospels, to be Used at the Celebracion of the Lordes Supper & Holye Communion, throughe the Yeare: With Proper Psalmes, and Lessons for Diuers Feastes and Dayes. [The Accencion Daie. Proper Psalms and Lessons.]”, in The Booke of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacramentes, […], London: […] Edowardi Whitchurche […], →OCLC, folio lxviii, recto:

        [W]e beſche thee, leaue vs not comfortles, but ſende to vs thine holy ghoſt to comfort vs, and exalte vs vnto thy ſame place, whither our ſauiour Chriſte is gone before: […]

      • 1609, The Holie Bible, […] (Douay–Rheims Bible), Doway: Lavrence Kellam, […], →OCLC, Devteronomie 19:3, page 436:

        [T]hou ſhalt diuide the vvhole prouince of thy Land equally into three partes: that he vvhich for murder is a fugitiue, may haue neere at hand, vvhither to eſcape.

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

        Jeſus 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.

      • 1678, John Bunyan, “The Author’s Apology for His Book”, in The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC:

        This Book, it chaulketh out before thine eyes / The man that ſeeks the everlaſting Prize: / It ſhevvs you vvhence he comes, vvhither he goes, / VVhat he leaves undone, alſo vvhat he does: / It alſo ſhovvs you hovv he runs, and runs, / Till he unto the Gate of Glory comes.

      • 1722 March, H[enry] F[oe] [pseudonym; Daniel Defoe], A Journal of the Plague Year: […], London: […] E[lizabeth] Nutt […]; J. Roberts […]; A. Dodd […]; and J. Graves […], →OCLC, page 1:

        It vvas about the Beginning of September 1664, that I, among the Reſt of my Neighbours, heard in ordinary Diſcourſe, that the Plague vvas return'd again in Holland; for it had been very violent there, and particularly at Amſterdam and Rotterdam, in the Year 1663. vvhether they ſay, it vvas brought, ſome ſaid from Italy, others from the Levant […]

      • 1821 (date written), Percy B[ysshe] Shelley, Hellas: A Lyrical Drama, London: Charles and James Ollier […], published 1822, →OCLC, page 43:

        I come / Thence whither thou must go! The grave is fitter / To take the living than give up the dead; / Yet has thy faith prevail'd, and I am here.

      • 1826 November 28 (date written), Walter Scott, “[Entry dated 28 November 1826]”, in David Douglas, editor, The Journal of Sir Walter Scott […], volume I, Edinburgh: David Douglas, published 1890, →OCLC, page 24:

        Dined at Melville Castle, whither I went through a snow-storm.

      • 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.

      • 1907, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter I, in Through the Magic Door, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 1:

        Close the door of that room behind you, shut off with it all the cares of the outer world, plunge back into the soothing company of the great dead, and then you are through the magic portal into that fair land whither worry and vexation can follow you no more.

      • 1918 September, Willa Sibert Cather, chapter I, in My Ántonia, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company […], →OCLC, book I (The Shimerdas), page 8:

        The wagon jolted on, carrying me I knew not whither.

   2. To the place in or to which.
      • 1886 January 5, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Carew Murder Case”, in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 38:

        And with the same grave countenance he hurried through his breakfast and drove to the police station, whither the body had been carried.

   3. (generally) In or to any place to which; to whatever place; wherever.

      Synonym: (archaic) whithersoever

      • c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], signature K1, recto:

        Ah foole, goe vvith thy ſoule vvhither it goes, / A borrovved title haſt thou bought too deare.

      • 1648, Joseph Beaumont, “Canto VII. The Great Little One. Stanza 108.”, in Psyche: Or Loves Mysterie, […], London: […] John Dawson for George Boddington, […], →OCLC, page 104, column 1:

        VVhether as He mounted up, the Nevvs He tells / To every Orb and Star; but chiefly to / Th' inquiſitive Spirits, vvhoſe ears and hearts he fils / VVith all the VVonders He had ſeen belovv, […]

      • 1722 March, H[enry] F[oe] [pseudonym; Daniel Defoe], A Journal of the Plague Year: […], London: […] E[lizabeth] Nutt […]; J. Roberts […]; A. Dodd […]; and J. Graves […], →OCLC, page 170:

        [H]is VVorſhip […] gave them proper Letters of Health, and from thence they vvere at Liberty to travel vvhither they pleaſed.

      • 1873 January 23, Robert Browning, “Part III”, in Red Cotton Night-Cap Country: Or Turf and Towers, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 157:

        Three days after, just a spark / From Paris, answered by a snap at Caen / Or whither reached the telegraphic wire: / "Quickly to Paris! On arrival, learn / Why you are wanted!" Curt and critical!

Usage notes

• Not to be confused with whether or wither.
• Compare the relative adverb whereto.

Derived terms

• anywhither
• elsewhither
• everywhither
• nowhither
• somewhither
• whither away
• whitherever
• whithersoever
• whitherto
• whitherward

 

Translations

to which place — see also where

Arabic: إِلَى أَيْنَ (ʔilā ʔayna) Asturian: ú (ast), aú (ast), onde (ast) (relative), ónde (ast) (interrogative) Belarusian: куды́ (kudý) Bulgarian: накъде́ (bg) (nakǎdé) Chinese: Mandarin: 哪裡／哪里 (zh) (nǎlǐ), 哪兒／哪儿 (zh) (nǎr) Czech: kam (cs) Danish: hvorhen Dutch: waarheen (nl), werwaarts Esperanto: kien (eo) Faroese: hvagar Finnish: minne (fi), kunne (fi) (archaic) French: où (fr) German: wohin (de) Gothic: 𐍈𐌰𐌳𐍂𐌴 (ƕadrē), 𐍈𐌰𐌸 (ƕaþ) Greek: Ancient: ᾗ (hêi), οἷ (hoî), ποῖ (poî) Hebrew: לְאָן (leán) Hungarian: hova (hu), hová (hu), merrefelé (hu) Icelandic: hvert (is) Ingrian: kuhu, kunne, mihe Italian: a dove Japanese: どこへ (ja) (doko e) Korean: 어디 (ko) (eodi), 어디에 (ko) (eodie) Kriol: wijei Latin: quō (la) Latvian: kur (lv), kurp Macedonian: каде (kade), накаде (nakade) Norwegian: Bokmål: hvor (no), hvor hen Nynorsk: kor, kvar, kvart Old Church Slavonic: Cyrillic: ꙗмѡ (jamo) (relative), камѡ (kamo) (interrogative) Old English: hwæder Polish: dokąd (pl) Portuguese: aonde (pt) Romanian: încotro (ro) Russian: куда́ (ru) (kudá) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ка̏мо, ку̀да Roman: kȁmo (sh), kùda (sh) Slovak: kam Slovene: kam (sl) Spanish: adónde (es) (interrogative), adonde (es) (relative) Swedish: vart (sv), varthän (sv), vartill (sv) Turkish: nereye (tr) Ukrainian: куди́ (uk) (kudý) Vietnamese: đâu (vi) Volapük: kipladio (vo) Yiddish: וווּהין (vuhin)

to what (future) cause, condition or state, reason, etc. — see also where

Finnish: minne (fi) Macedonian: please add this translation if you can

to which place; (after a noun denoting a place) to which

Finnish: jonne (fi) Macedonian: please add this translation if you can

to the place in or to which

Finnish: jonne (fi) Macedonian: please add this translation if you can

in or to any place to which; to whatever place — see wherever

See also

Use the following table to determine which adverb to use in a given context. For example, the word hither can be used to mean “to here”, and whence to mean “from where”.

Modern word Preposition	here	there	where
to	hither	thither	whither
from	hence	thence	whence

Noun

whither (plural whithers)

1. (formal, archaic except literary or poetic) A place to which someone or something goes; also, a condition to which someone or something moves.
   • 1838 July, “Art. III.—Principles of Political Economy. Part the First. Of the Laws of the Production and the Distribution of Wealth. By Henry C. Carey, Author of an Essay on the Rate of Wages. Philadelphia: Cary, Lea, and Blanchard. 1837. 8vo. pp. xvi. 342. [book review]”, in The North American Review, volume XLVII, number C (New Series, volume , number ), Boston, Mass.: Otis, Broaders, & Co., […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 76:

     Mr. [Henry Charles] Carey usually gives his reader a bird's-eye retrospect, from his balloon at the end of each stage, of the where and whither or the zigzags and dark passages of the route gone over from the starting-point, where was the man upon a solitary island picking fruit, down to his present stopping-place.

   • 1951 November 26, Robert Houghwout Jackson, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States, “Gallegos v. Nebraska (No. 94)”, in Walter Wyatt, reporter, United States Reports: Cases Adjudged in the Supreme Court at October Term, 1951 […], volume 342, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, published 1952, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 69:

     The whence and whither of their comings and goings made no impression on the community, and when they disappeared no one asked how or why.

Translations

place to which someone or something goes; condition to which someone or something moves

Finnish: paikka (fi) Macedonian: please add this translation if you can

Etymology 2

The verb is borrowed from Scots whidder, whither (“(of the wind) to bluster; to move quickly”),^[3] a frequentative form of whid (“(of wind) to gust; to move quickly”), of Scandinavian/North Germanic origin, from Old Norse hviða (“gust of wind”).^[4][5][6]

Related to Middle English hwiþa, whyȝt (“breeze; wind”), Old English hwiþa, hwiþu, hweoþu (“breeze”). The noun is derived from the verb.^[7]

Verb

whither (third-person singular simple present whithers, present participle whithering, simple past and past participle whithered) (British, dialectal, especially Scotland)

2. (transitive)
   1. To cause (someone) to hurry; to hasten, to hurry.
   2. To throw (something) forcefully; to hurl; also, to beat, to thrash.
3. (intransitive)
   1. To shake (vigorously); to tremble.
   2. To move quickly, to rush, to whiz; also, to make a rushing sound; to whizz.
   3. Of the wind: to blow loudly and vigorously; to bluster; also, of an animal, etc.: to make a loud noise; to bellow, to roar.

Alternative forms

• wuther

Translations

to cause (someone) to hurry — see hasten,‎ hurry

to throw (something) forcefully — see hurl

to beat, to thrash — see beat,‎ thrash

to make a rushing sound — see whizz

to shake (vigorously) — see tremble

to move quickly — see rush,‎ whiz

to make a rushing noise — see whiz

of the wind: to blow loudly and vigorously — see bluster

of an animal, etc.: to make a loud noise — see bellow,‎ roar

Noun

whither (plural whithers) (British, dialectal, especially Scotland)

1. A state of rushed action; a haste, a hurry; also, a state of anger or excitement.
2. A forceful blow or hit.
3. An act of shaking (vigorously); a shiver, a tremble; also, a slight bout of discomfort or illness.
4. The sound of something moving quickly; a rush, a whiz.
5. A gust of wind; a bluster.
   • 1853 January, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “Auld Lang Syne”, in Villette. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 8:

     I felt sure now that I was in the pensionnat—sure by the beating rain on the easement; sure by the ‘wuther’ of wind amongst trees, denoting a garden outside; sure by the chill, the whiteness, the solitude, amidst which I lay.

Alternative forms

• wuther

Translations

state of rushed action — see haste,‎ hurry

forceful blow or hit — see blow,‎ hit

act of shaking (vigorously) — see shiver,‎ tremble

slight bout of discomfort or illness

Finnish: huimaus (fi) Macedonian: please add this translation if you can

sound of something moving quickly — see rush,‎ whiz

gust of wind — see bluster

References

1. “whider, adv. & conj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
2. “whither, adv. (and n.²)”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2024; “whither, adv.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
3. “whidder, v., n.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.
4. “whid, n.¹, v.¹”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.
5. “whither, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2024.
6. “hwiþa, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007; “† whyȝt, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2023.
7. “whither, n.¹”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2024.

Further reading

• Joseph Wright, editor (1905), “WHITHER, v., sb.² and adj.”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume VI (T–Z, Supplement, Bibliography and Grammar), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, pages 475–476.