thence
/ðɛns/adverb
thence is spelled T-H-E-N-C-E: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 26,420th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adverb, thence means “From there, from that place or from that time” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in thence?
| Letters | 6: T-H-E-N-C-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.2 times per million words; the 26,420th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is thence?
Thence appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 26,420th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce thence?
- /ðɛns/
Thence has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-thence.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with thence?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as thence.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: techne.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
What does thence mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
From there, from that place or from that time.
I came thence.
- 2
Deriving from this fact or circumstance; therefore, therefrom.
I had a really bad car accident, and thence came all my backpains.
- 3
archaicFrom that time; thenceforth; thereafter.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Thence in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense from there:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | dès lors, de là |
| German | daher, von dannen, dorther |
| Portuguese | desde aí, daí |
| Spanish | de/desde ahí/allí/allá/acullá/allende |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does thence come from?
From Middle English þennes, from þenne + -es (“adverbial ending”), the former from þanan, þanona, from Proto-West Germanic *þananā. Cognate with Westphalian Low German diëne.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).