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hitherto.

Up to this or that time.

8 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adv/ˌhɪðəˈtuː/Received-Pronunciation/ˈhɪðətuː/Received-Pronunciation[ˌhɪðəˈtʰuː]Received-Pronunciation[ˈhɪðətʰuː]Received-Pronunciation
  1. Up to this or that time.

    also · formal · not-comparable
  2. Up to this place.

    archaic · literary · not-comparable
  3. In speech or writing: up to this point; thus far.

    archaic · literary · not-comparable
  4. Synonym of hereto (“regarding this subject; to achieve this result; to this end”).

    not-comparable · obsolete
Where this word comes from

The adverb is derived from Middle English hiderto (“to the present time, until now; up to this point”), from hider (“in this direction, to or toward this place; up to the present time, until now”) (from Old English hider (“to here, hither”)) + to (“in the direction of, toward; etc.”). By surface analysis, hither + to. The adjective is derived from the adverb.

adj/ˌhɪðəˈtuː/Received-Pronunciation/ˈhɪðətuː/Received-Pronunciation[ˌhɪðəˈtʰuː]Received-Pronunciation[ˈhɪðətʰuː]Received-Pronunciation
  1. Existing or occurring before now; former, preceding, previous.

    archaic · not-comparable
Where this word comes from

The adverb is derived from Middle English hiderto (“to the present time, until now; up to this point”), from hider (“in this direction, to or toward this place; up to the present time, until now”) (from Old English hider (“to here, hither”)) + to (“in the direction of, toward; etc.”). By surface analysis, hither + to. The adjective is derived from the adverb.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.