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wherefore

Pronunciation: /ˈwɛəˌfɔː/

The English word “wherefore” has 4 meanings listed here.

adverb

  1. Why, for what reason, because of what.
  2. Therefore; thus.

conjunction

  1. Because of which.

noun

  1. An intent or purpose; a why.

Etymology

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.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.