▶ USAGE The expression from whence should be avoided, since whence already means from which place: the tradition whence (not from whence) such ideas flowed
Word origin
C13 whannes, adverbial genitive of Old English hwanon; related to Old Frisian hwana, Old High German hwanan
whence in American English
(hwɛns; wɛns)
adverb
1.
from what place, source, or cause?; from where?
whence does he find his strength?
conjunction
2.
from what place, source, or cause
I know whence he comes
3.
from which place, source, or cause
we went home, whence we departed soon after
4.
to the place from which
return whence you came
5.
from which fact
there was no reply, whence he inferred that all had gone
pronoun
6.
a place, cause, etc.: preceded by from: its use is still frowned on by some
Word origin
ME whennes (< whenne, when + adv. gen. -s), replacing OE hwanan
Examples of 'whence' in a sentence
whence
Those already here should be sent back whence they came.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
He just turned the taunts into motivation and was soon ramming them back from whence they came.
The Sun (2015)
We return to whence we have come.
Travers, P L What the Bee Knows - reflections on myth, symbol and story (1989)
They have been returned whence they came.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
The jumpsuit was returned whence it came.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
But whence comes this absolute force?
The Times Literary Supplement (2010)
Isn't it a bit of risk to go back from whence we came?
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
But maybe we would do better to ask whence comes the power to cement together people who do understand they may not always agree.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
We as a nation deserve to put them all on the next available transport back whence they came and charge her for the inconvenience.
The Sun (2012)
From whence does he come?
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Life, too, must surely go back whence it came.
Travers, P L What the Bee Knows - reflections on myth, symbol and story (1989)
If they have not so furnished themselves, then they are liable to be stopped on the threshold of the area and sent back whence they came.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Is it to banish the air of predictability that Blackpool so gloriously challenged last season, only to be returned from whence they came?
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
Or return whence I came?
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch it, we are going back from whence we came.