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I use the phrase "For why" quite often and my friends laugh at me for it.

For example, I asked my friend about why he was going and I had asked him "for why are you going?"

Is this an incorrect use? And if so why?

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    Give an example of when you would use "For why?"
    – Robusto
    Commented Dec 4, 2018 at 18:23
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    Yes, that's not a native usage. You're mingling "For what?" and "Why?" Why functions all by itself. "What are you going for?" is equivalent to "Why are you going?"
    – Robusto
    Commented Dec 4, 2018 at 18:26
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    'For why' can be idiomatic in certain contexts, but it sounds rather old-fashioned. Googling 'for why' (in quotes) I discovered that there was a single word 'forwhy' in Middle English.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Dec 4, 2018 at 18:37
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    @Robusto If a clause headed by why is the object of for, it can be idiomatic (though generally it feels more natural to me to leave out the preposition even there), e.g., “dispiriting evidence for why people fall for stupid fake images online” – but that is of course a very different situation from the one this question is about, since for here collocates with the preceding noun/verb/whatever.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Dec 4, 2018 at 20:24
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    @JanusBahsJacquet: I realize that it is possible to put virtually any two words together, but the OP's context is what matters here. I really wouldn't ever call that usage to be "idiomatic."
    – Robusto
    Commented Dec 4, 2018 at 22:23

2 Answers 2

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The two expressions that are idiomatic in this context are "why" or "for what reason", with the former being the preferred option.

"For why" (also hyphenated or written as one word) meaning "why" as a direct interrogative was used in Old and Middle English (see the MED's entry), but it became obsolete sometime around the year 1500. Other senses of the expression (for example, it was used as a conjunction meaning "because") gradually over time all dropped out of use, so the word is completely obsolete and is marked as such by the OED.

At this point "for why" isn't even used in contexts where people are trying to sound archaic.

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For why' can be idiomatic in certain contexts, but it sounds rather old-fashioned. Googling 'for why' (in quotes) I discovered that there was a single word 'forwhy' in Middle English. – Kate Bunting

Merriam-Webster has an entry

forwhy

  1. chiefly dialectal
    : WHY, WHEREFORE

forwhy

  1. archaic
    : BECAUSE, FOR, SINCE

etymology

Adverb
Middle English, from Old English for hwī, for hwȳ, […] instrumental of hwæt what

Conjunction
Middle English, from forwhy, adverb

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  • Upvote Laurel's answer which said all of the above six years ago.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Mar 6 at 8:59
  • I don't agree with her last sentence, which conflicts with your first. I wouldn't have promoted a mere repeat.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Mar 6 at 19:03

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