whereof

From where +‎ of. Compare the parallel formations of Swedish varav and Dutch waarvan.

• Rhymes: -ɒv
• Rhymes: -ʌv

whereof

1. (formal) Of what.
2. (formal) Of which.
   • 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 558:

     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.
   • 1886-88, Richard F. Burton, The Supplemental Nights to the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 547:

     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.

• whence

whereof (not comparable)

1. (archaic) Of what.
   • c. 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, 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.

• “whereof” in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989, →ISBN.

• forehew