Meaning

2 senses

  1. (archaic, conjunctive, interrogative, not comparable)Why, for what reason, because of what.

  2. (archaic, conjunctive, formal, indicative, not comparable)Therefore; thus.

Examples

6 sentences

  1. O Tom, Tom, wherefore art thou Tom?

    CC BY · Tatoeba · maaster · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  2. O Romeo Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

    deO Romeo, Romeo, warum bist du Romeo?

    CC BY · Tatoeba · Scott · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  3. O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?

    CC BY · Tatoeba · Objectivesea · B1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  4. O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

    deO Romeo, Romeo, warum bist du Romeo?

    CC0 · Tatoeba · shekitten · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  5. Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be two in one flesh.

    deDarum verlässt der Mann Vater und Mutter und hängt seiner Frau an und sie werden ein Fleisch.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · carlosalberto · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Origin

From Middle English wherfor, wherfore, hwarfore, equivalent to where- (“what”) + for. Comp

From Middle English wherfor, wherfore, hwarfore, equivalent to where- (“what”) + for. Compare Dutch waarvoor (“what for, wherefore”), German wofür (“for what, what for, why”), Danish and Norwegian hvorfor (“wherefore, why”), Swedish varför (“wherefore, why”). More at where, for.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Word family

166 related words
RelatedhithertoC2howeverA2thereafterB2therebyC1thereforeA2whateverA2wheneverB1whereasB2whereverB1henceafterhenceforthhenceforwardhenceforwardshencefromhereabouthereaboutshereabovehereafterhereagainsthereamonghereathereawayherebeforehereby

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
whereasB2wherebywhereinwhereuponwhereverB1
wherefore — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto