Where

How to spell where

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce where

What does where mean?

1. adverbIn, at, or to what place, or the place in or at which something happens.

Where in a sentence

• Where did you leave the car keys this morning?

• This is the office where the contracts are stored.

Where does where come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word descends from the Old English hwǣr, meaning 'in or at what place', which was built on the same interrogative root hwa that gives us 'who', 'what' and 'why'. It belongs to a tidy family of locative words in English: 'here', 'there' and 'where' all share that final -ere element marking place, which is why their spellings rhyme on the page. The initial spelling 'hw' of Old English was flipped to 'wh' by Norman-influenced scribes in the medieval period, even though many speakers pronounce it simply as 'w'. Over the centuries 'where' broadened from a pure question word into a relative and conjunctive word, as in 'the town where I grew up'. The trap for writers is purely aural: it sounds identical to 'wear' (to have on) and 'ware' (goods), so the meaning, not the sound, must guide the spelling.

How the word is built

• wh- (interrogative/relative element from Old English hwǣr)
• -ere (locative ending related to 'there' and 'here')

Words that sound like where

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• ware: An article of manufacture or merchandise, especially a type of pottery or ceramic offered for sale.
• wear: To have clothing, jewellery, or a similar item on the body.