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whither.

Interrogative senses.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adv/ˈwɪðəː/[ˈwɪðəː]/ˈʍɪðəː/[ˈʍɪðəː]
  1. Interrogative senses. To what place; where.

    not-comparable
    Whither wilt thou wander, wayfarer?
  2. Interrogative senses. To what (future) cause, condition or state, reason, etc.; where, where next; also (obsolete) to what extent; how far.

    also · figuratively · humorous · not-comparable
  3. Relative senses. To which place; also (after a noun denoting a place) to which.

    not-comparable
  4. Relative senses. To the place in or to which.

    not-comparable
  5. Relative senses. In or to any place to which; to whatever place; wherever.

    not-comparable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English whider (“to what place?; into or to which; to what place, where; no matter where, to wherever”), from Old English hwider, hwæder (“to what place, where”), from Proto-Germanic *hwadrê (“to what place, where”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷos (“what; which”), from *kʷ- (the primary interrogative root).

noun/ˈwɪðəː/[ˈwɪðəː]/ˈʍɪðəː/[ˈʍɪðəː]
  1. A place to which someone or something goes; also, a condition to which someone or something moves.

    formal
Where this word comes from

From Middle English whider (“to what place?; into or to which; to what place, where; no matter where, to wherever”), from Old English hwider, hwæder (“to what place, where”), from Proto-Germanic *hwadrê (“to what place, where”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷos (“what; which”), from *kʷ- (the primary interrogative root).

verb/ˈwɪðəː/[ˈwɪðəː]/ˈʍɪðəː/[ˈʍɪðəː]
  1. To cause (someone) to hurry; to hasten, to hurry.

    Scotland · UK · dialectal · especially · transitive
  2. To throw (something) forcefully; to hurl; also, to beat, to thrash.

    Scotland · UK · dialectal · especially · transitive
  3. To shake (vigorously); to tremble.

    Scotland · UK · dialectal · especially · intransitive
  4. To move quickly, to rush, to whiz; also, to make a rushing sound; to whizz.

    Scotland · UK · dialectal · especially · intransitive
  5. Of the wind: to blow loudly and vigorously; to bluster; also, of an animal, etc.: to make a loud noise; to bellow, to roar.

    Scotland · UK · dialectal · especially · intransitive
Where this word comes from

The verb is borrowed from Scots whidder, whither (“(of the wind) to bluster; to move quickly”), a frequentative form of whid (“(of wind) to gust; to move quickly”), of Scandinavian/North Germanic origin, from Old Norse hviða (“gust of wind”). Related to Middle English hwiþa, whyȝt (“breeze; wind”), Old English hwiþa, hwiþu, hweoþu (“breeze”). The noun is derived from the verb.

noun/ˈwɪðəː/[ˈwɪðəː]/ˈʍɪðəː/[ˈʍɪðəː]
  1. A state of rushed action; a haste, a hurry; also, a state of anger or excitement.

    Scotland · UK · dialectal · especially
  2. A forceful blow or hit.

    Scotland · UK · dialectal · especially
  3. An act of shaking (vigorously); a shiver, a tremble; also, a slight bout of discomfort or illness.

    Scotland · UK · dialectal · especially
  4. The sound of something moving quickly; a rush, a whiz.

    Scotland · UK · dialectal · especially
  5. A gust of wind; a bluster.

    Scotland · UK · dialectal · especially
Where this word comes from

The verb is borrowed from Scots whidder, whither (“(of the wind) to bluster; to move quickly”), a frequentative form of whid (“(of wind) to gust; to move quickly”), of Scandinavian/North Germanic origin, from Old Norse hviða (“gust of wind”). Related to Middle English hwiþa, whyȝt (“breeze; wind”), Old English hwiþa, hwiþu, hweoþu (“breeze”). The noun is derived from the verb.

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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.