wherefore

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• wâ(r)'fô(r)"
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• hwâ(r)'fô(r)"
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• Received-Pronunciation: /ˈwɛəˌfɔː/
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• General-American: /ˈweɹˌfɔɹ/
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• Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• obsolete: hwûr'fôr"
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• obsolete: /ˈʍɜːɹˌfɔːɹ/
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• rhymes with -eə(ɹ)fɔː(ɹ)
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• CMU ARPABET: W EH0 R F AO1 R Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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From Middle English wherfor, wherfore, hwarfore, equivalent to where- (“what”) + for. Compare Dutch waarvoor (“what for, wherefore”), German wofür (“for what, what for, why”), Danish and Norwegian hvorfor (“wherefore, why”), Swedish varför (“wherefore, why”). More at where, for.

39 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Bulgarian: защо (zašto) — because of which
• Bulgarian: по каква причина (po kakva pričina) — because of which
• Czech: pročež — because of which
• Danish: hvorfor — because of which
• Dutch: waarom — because of which
• Dutch: waarvoor — because of which
• Faroese: hví — because of which
• Finnish: minkä vuoksi — because of which
• Finnish: miksi — because of which
• French: d'où — because of which
• West-Frisian: wêrom — because of which
• Georgian: რატომ (raṭom) — because of which
• Georgian: რისთვის (ristvis) — because of which
• German: warum — because of which
• German: weswegen — because of which
• German: wofür — because of which
• Gothic: 𐌳𐌿𐌸𐌸𐌴 (duþþē) — because of which
• Greek: γιατί (giatí) — because of which
• Ancient Greek: τοιγάρ (toigár) — because of which
• Ancient Greek: διό (dió) — because of which
• Ancient Greek: ᾗ (hēî) — because of which
• Hebrew: למה (lama) — because of which
• Hebrew: מדוע (madua) — because of which
• Italian: perché — because of which
• Japanese: 何故 (naniyue, naze) — because of which
• Latin: quōcircā — because of which
• Norwegian: hvorfor — because of which
• Norwegian Nynorsk: korfor — because of which
• Norwegian Nynorsk: kvifor — because of which
• Polish: dlaczego — because of which
• Portuguese: por quê — because of which
• Russian: почему́ (počemú) — because of which
• Russian: отчего (otčevo) — because of which
• Spanish: por qué — because of which
• Swedish: varför — because of which
• Turkish: niçin — because of which
• Ukrainian: чому́ (čomú) — because of which
• Ukrainian: з тако́ї причи́ни (z takóji pryčýny) — because of which
• Welsh: paham — because of which