whereof

From Middle English wherof; equivalent to where +‎ of. Compare the parallel formations of Swedish varav and Dutch waaraf.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /wɛəɹˈɒv/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /(h)wɛɹˈʌv/
• Rhymes: -ɒv, -ʌv

whereof

1. (formal) Of what.
2. (formal) Of which.
   • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “A Great Storm Described, the Long-Boat Sent to Fetch Water, the Author Goes with It to Discover the Country. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part II (A Voyage to Brobdingnag), page [176]:

     However, upon a ſtrict Review, I blotted out ſeveral Paſſages of leſs Moment which were in my firſt Copy, for fear of being cenſured as tedious and trifling, whereof Travellers are often, perhaps not without Juſtice, accuſed.

   • 1885–1888, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, “Night 558”, in A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, now Entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume (please specify the volume), [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC:

     Then they set somewhat of food before me, whereof I ate my fill, and gave me somewhat of clothes wherewith I clad myself anew and covered my nakedness; after which they took me up into the ship, […]

3. (formal) Of whom.
   • 1885–1888, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, “Night 547”, in Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume (please specify the volume), [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC:

     Now one day of the days, […] the Sultan cast his eyes upon her as she stood before him, and said to his Grand Wazir, "This be the very woman whereof I spake to thee yesterday, so do thou straightway bring her before me, that I may see what be her suit and fulfil her need."

4. (archaic) With or by which.

whereof (not comparable)

1. (archaic) Of what.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     In sooth, I know not why I am so sad.
     It wearies me; you say it wearies you;
     But how I caught it, found it, or came by it,
     What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born,
     I am to learn;
     And such a wantwit sadness makes of me,
     That I have much ado to know myself.

   • 1922, Ludwig Wittgenstein, trans. C. K. Ogden, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, proposition 7:

     Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.

2. (archaic) Of which.

• know whereof one speaks

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “whereof”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

• forehew