Hitherto

How to spell hitherto

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce hitherto

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does hitherto mean?

1. adverbUp until the present time; until now.

Hitherto in a sentence

• The documents revealed details hitherto unknown to the investigators.

• The new policy applies to costs that were hitherto covered by the employer.

Where does hitherto come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word is a native English compound formed from 'hither' and 'to', and its roots reach back to Old English. 'Hither' descends from the Old English 'hider', meaning 'to this place' or 'in this direction', a relative of the words 'here' and 'thither'. Joined with 'to' in the sense of 'up to' or 'as far as', the compound originally carried a spatial idea before it settled into its modern temporal meaning of 'up to this point in time'. By the time it appears in Middle English, the phrase had largely shifted from describing motion 'to here' toward marking duration 'until now'. The spelling trap lies in the unstressed middle: writers reaching for the formal tone of the word sometimes drop the 'h' in the centre or muddle the 'er', because the cluster 'hither' is rarely written on its own anymore.

How the word is built

• hither (Old English hider: to this place)
• to (as far as, up to)