Etymology

whence

W4H4E1N1C3E1

Today it means: From where, from which: from which place or source. Full definition →

Middle English whennes ← Old English hwanon
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited fromhwanon
  2. Middle English · inherited fromwhennes
  3. English todaywhence

From Middle English whennes, from Old English hwanon (with adverbial genitive -s), related to hwonne (whence when). Analyzable as when + -s.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.