where

where

See also: where- and were

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *kʷ-
Proto-Indo-European *kʷís
Proto-Germanic *hwaz
Proto-Indo-European *-r
Proto-Germanic *-r
Proto-Germanic *hwar
Proto-West Germanic *hwār
Old English hwǣr
Middle English wher
English where

    From Middle English wher, from Old English hwǣr (“where”, literally “at what place”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwār, from Proto-Germanic *hwar (“where”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷ- (interrogative pronoun).

    Pronunciation

    Adverb

    where (not comparable)

    1. (interrogative) In, at or to what place.
      Synonym: (to which place; archaic or literary) whither
      Where are you?
      He asked where I grew up.
      Where are you going?
      Where you going? (informal, 'be' verb omitted)
      I've forgotten where I was in this book, but it was probably around chapter four.
      I hardly knew where I was going.
      • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:where.
    2. In what situation.
      Where would we be without our parents?
    3. In, at or to the place (that) or a place (that).
      Stay where you are.
      Go back where you came from.
      Let's go where it's warmer.
      • 2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:
        Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.
    4. In, at or to any place (that); wherever; anywhere.
      Please sit where you like.
      Their job is to go where they are called.
    5. (relative) In, at or to which.
      This is the place where we first met.
      He is looking for a house where he can have a complete office.
      That's the place where we went on holiday.
      Here's a picture of York, where I was born. (non-defining)
      Show me an example where it happened that way.
    6. (fused relative) The place in, at or to which.
      He lives within five miles of where he was born.
      This is a photo of where I went on holiday.
      • 1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 122:
        Through the open front door ran Jessamy, down the steps to where Kitto was sitting at the bottom with the pram beside him.
    7. (fused relative, informal) A situation or case in which.
      A function is where two variables are related.
    8. In a/the situation, position, case, etc. in which.
      You cannot be too careful where explosives are involved.
      Where no provision under this Act is applicable, the case shall be decided in accordance with the customary practices.

    Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
    Translations to be checked
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
    Translations to be checked

    Conjunction

    where

    1. While on the contrary; although; whereas.
      • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
        And flight and die is death destroying death; Where fearing dying pays death servile breath.
      • July 18 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Rises[1]
        Where the Joker preys on our fears of random, irrational acts of terror, Bane has an all-consuming, dictatorial agenda that’s more stable and permanent, a New World Order that’s been planned out with the precision of a military coup.
      • 2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18:
        Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.
      • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:where.
      Where Susy has trouble coloring inside the lines, Johnny has already mastered shading.
    2. (informal) That.
      I read where they caught the guy.

    Translations

    Pronoun

    where

    1. (interrogative) What place.
      Where did you come from?
      Where are you at? (informal)
      Where are you off to?
      Where you off to? (informal, 'be' verb omitted)
      Do you know where you came from?

    Noun

    where (plural wheres)

    1. The place in which something happens.
      A good article will cover the who, the what, the when, the where, the why and the how.

    Translations

    Derived terms

    all parts of speech

    Descendants

    • Hawaiian Creole: wea

    Anagrams

    Middle English

    Etymology 1

    Noun

    where

    1. (County Durham or Northumberland; Lancashire, North Riding) alternative form of quer

    Etymology 2

    Noun

    where

    1. alternative form of werre (“war”)
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