Meanings
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1
adv
For this reason; therefore.
The roads were icy, and hence the school was closed.
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2
adv
From this time; from now (used after a period of time).
A year hence, all of this will be forgotten.
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Etymology
A later Middle English spelling, retaining the voiceless -s, of hennes (henne + adverbial genitive ending -s), from Old English heonan (“away", "hence”), from a Proto-West Germanic *hin-, from Proto-Germanic *hiz, and Proto-Germanic *-anē. Cognate with Old Saxon hinan, Old High German hinnan (German hinnen), Dutch heen, Swedish hän. Related to Old English her (“here”).
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