whereof
whereof Lexical Profile
whereof Game Scores & Validity
• adverb
Of what or of which; concerning what (used in direct or indirect questions).
"The veteran scholar clearly knows whereof he speaks when lecturing on constitutional history."
• pronoun
That of which; the thing or matter concerning which (used chiefly in formal or legal contexts).
"In witness whereof, the undersigned parties have executed this agreement on the date written above."
• conjunction
Of which or concerning which (used to introduce a relative clause).
"They reviewed the ancient treaty whereof the original parchment had long since been lost."
Word Nuance & Usage
"Whereof" is primarily restricted to formal legal drafting and archaic or elevated literary prose; in modern everyday English, it is almost always replaced by "of which" or "about which".
• Rhymes for whereof
Word Origin & Etymology
Formed in Middle English as hwērof, combining "where" (from Old English hwǣr) and "of" (from Old English of).