where
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: enpr: wâr
enpr: hwâr
ipa: /wɛə/
ipa: /ʍɛə/
enpr: wâr
enpr: hwâr
ipa: /wɛəɹ/
ipa: /ʍɛəɹ/
ipa: [weːɹ]
ipa: [ʍeːɹ]
ipa: /weː/
note: without the cheer–chair merger
ipa: /weə/
note: New Zealand, cheer–chair merger
ipa: /wiə/
ipa: /ʍeɹ/
note: Lancashire, fair–fur merger
ipa: /wɜː(ɹ)/
homophone: ware
homophone: wear (both wine–whine merger)
homophone: weir
homophone: we're (both cheer–chair merger, wine–whine merger)
homophone: whir (fair–fur merger)
homophone: were (fair–fur merger, wine–whine merger)
rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
Forms: form: quhair
form: quhar
form: quher
form: quhere
Etymology: From Middle English wher, from Old English hwǣr (“where”, literally “at what place”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwār, from Proto-Germanic *hwar (“where”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷo- (interrogative pronoun).
Senses: examples: text: Where are you?
text: He asked where I grew up.
text: Where are you going?
raw_tags: informal, 'be' verb omitted
text: Where you going?
text: I've forgotten where I was in this book, but it was probably around chapter four.
text: I hardly knew where I was going.
synonyms: whither
glosses: In, at or to what place.
examples: text: Where would we be without our parents?
glosses: In what situation.
examples: text: Stay where you are.
text: Go back where you came from.
text: Let's go where it's warmer.
text: Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.
ref: 2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:
glosses: In, at or to the place (that) or a place (that).
examples: text: Please sit where you like.
text: Their job is to go where they are called.
glosses: In, at or to any place (that); wherever; anywhere.
examples: text: This is the place where we first met.
text: He is looking for a house where he can have a complete office.
text: That's the place where we went on holiday.
raw_tags: non-defining
text: Here's a picture of York, where I was born.
text: Show me an example where it happened that way.
glosses: In, at or to which.
examples: text: He lives within five miles of where he was born.
text: This is a photo of where I went on holiday.
text: Through the open front door ran Jessamy, down the steps to where Kitto was sitting at the bottom with the pram beside him.
ref: 1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 122:
qualifier: fused relative
glosses: The place in, at or to which.
examples: text: A function is where two variables are related.
qualifier: fused relative
glosses: A situation or case in which.
examples: text: You cannot be too careful where explosives are involved.
text: Where no provision under this Act is applicable, the case shall be decided in accordance with the customary practices.
glosses: In a/the situation, position, case, etc. in which.