• enPR: wâ(r)'fô(r)", IPA: /ˈweə(ɹ)ˌfɔː(ɹ)/
• enPR: hwâ(r)'fô(r)", IPA: /ˈʍeə(ɹ)ˌfɔː(ɹ)/

wherefore (not comparable)

1. (conjunctive, interrogative, archaic) Why, for what reason, because of what.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981 ↗, Job 21:7 ↗:

     Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?

   • 1595, William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

     Romeo, O Romeo. Wherefore art thou Romeo?

   • 1610-11?, Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act III, scene i:

     Wherefore weep you?

   • 1920, Herman Cyril McNeile, Bulldog Drummond Chapter 1

     "Good morning, Mrs. Denny," he said. "Wherefore this worried look on your face? Has that reprobate James been misbehaving himself?"

2. (conjunctive, indicative, archaic or formal) Therefore.

1. (archaic) Because of which.
   • "Isaiah", Holy Bible King James Version, 30:12-13:

     Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:
     Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.

• French: d'où
• German: warum, weswegen, wofür
• Italian: perché
• Portuguese: por quê
• Russian: почему́
• Spanish: por qué

wherefore (plural wherefores)

1. An intent or purpose; a why.
   • 1595, William Shakespeare, A Comedy of Errors

     Every why hath a wherefore.