Herefor

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. Archaic term meaning for this thing, reason, or purpose that has just been mentioned
2. An old-fashioned adverb used to mean in exchange for this or on account of it
3. Obsolete word signifying for the matter, cause, or object already under discussion

Etymology: "Herefor" is a compound built from two plain English words, "here" and "for," and its history is largely a matter of putting them together. It comes from Middle English "hēr-for," which joined the adverb "here" with the preposition "for" to mean roughly "for this" or "for this purpose." The same pattern appears across the Germanic languages. Danish "herfor," Dutch "hiervoor," German "hierfür," and Swedish "härför" all follow the same construction, which shows that this way of forming a word meaning "for this" was shared across the family rather than unique to English. The word sits in a small group of English compounds that share the same structure. Its close relatives "herefore" and "therefor" follow the same pattern with "there" and "here," and "wherefor" uses "where" in the same role.