also *kwi-, Proto-Indo-European root, stem of relative and interrogative pronouns.

It forms all or part of: cheese (n.2) "a big thing;" cue (n.1) "stage direction;" either; hidalgo; how; kickshaw; neither; neuter; qua; quality; quandary; quantity; quasar; quasi; quasi-; query; quib; quibble; quiddity; quidnunc; quip; quodlibet; quondam; quorum; quote; quotidian; quotient; ubi; ubiquity; what; when; whence; where; whether; which; whither; who; whoever; whom; whose; why.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit kah "who, which;" Avestan ko, Hittite kuish "who;" Latin quis/quid "in what respect, to what extent; how, why," qua "where, which way," qui/quae/quod "who, which;" Lithuanian kas "who;" Old Church Slavonic kuto, Russian kto "who;" Old Irish ce, Welsh pwy "who;" Old English hwa, hwæt, hwær, etc.

mid-14c., "where;" early 15c. as a conjunction, "in consideration of the fact that, considering that things are so; while on the contrary," from where (in the sense of "in which position or circumstances") + as.

"for what cause or reason," c. 1200, hwarfore, from where (in the sense of "in which position or circumstances") + for (prep.). Similar formation in Dutch waarvoor, Old Norse hvar fyrir, Swedish varfor.

"in what place," early 15c., from whereabout + adverbial genitive -s. The noun, "place where someone or something is," is recorded from 1795. Whereabout in this sense is from c. 1600.

"in, at, or to any place," late 14c., from any + where. Earlier words in this sense were owhere, oughwhere, aywhere, literally "aught where" (see aught (n.1)).

"in another place, in other places," c. 1400, elswher, from Old English elles hwær (see else + where). Related: Elsewhither (Old English elleshwider.

"in every place, in all places," c. 1200, eauerihwer, contracted from Old English æfre gehwær; see ever (adv.) + where. Not from every; the -i- in the word apparently was a prefix; compare handiwork. Old English had also æghwær " 'aywhere,' everywhere."

"not in any situation or state; in no place," Old English nahwær "nowhere, not at all;" see no + where. Colloquial nowheres, with adverbial genitive, is by 1803.

As a noun, "non-existent place," 1831; "remote or inaccessible place," 1908. Hence such phrases as middle of nowhere (by 1848, seemingly originally a place you knocked someone or something into; see below), road to nowhere (by 1800 as "a way that is not a thoroughfare, a road leading to no destination;" the figurative use, "a program, course of action, etc. deemed likely to lead to no useful result," is by 1891).

 Similar constructions were attempted with nowhat ("not at all," 1650s) and nowhen ("at no time, never," 1764), but they failed to take hold and remain nonce words. Middle English also had an adverb never-where (early 14c.).

THE COMET IS COMING.--The appearance of the great comet that is expected to knock all creation into the middle of nowhere about the 16th of June, has been indefinitely postponed on account of the great gift sale at 96 Third street, where every purchaser of 25 cents' worth of liniment receives a free gift as soon as the purchase is made .... [announcement in Louisville Daily Courier, Louisville, Kentucky, May 28, 1857]

late 12c., "in an unspecified or undetermined place," from some + where. The meaning "elsewhere, in some other place" is from c. 1300; somewhere else is attested from late 14c. A dateline of somewhere in ____ making reference to some locality without identifying it for security or censorship purposes dates from World War I (somewhere in France).

"near what place," early 14c. as an interrogatory word, from where + about.