Link Centre Dictionary

whence

UK/ʍɛns/ US/wɛns/ uncommon archaic formal literary

adverb

1.

from what place or origin or source

  • “whence did he come?”
  • “whence comes this splendid feast?”
  • “sketches the lawless society whence the ballads sprang” DeLancey Ferguson
Synonyms

Origin

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

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.