whosoever

• whosoëver (obsolete)

From Middle English whosoever; equivalent to who +‎ soever.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /huːsəʊˈɛvə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /huːsoʊˈɛvɚ/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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• Rhymes: -ɛvə(ɹ)

whosoever (objective whomsoever, possessive whosesoever) (formal)

1. Whatever person or persons: emphasised or elaborated form of whoever.

   Whosoever partakes of this elixir shall have eternal life.

   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedie of King Richard the Second. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Simmes for Androw Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:

     If thou do pardon whoſoeuer pray, / More ſinnes for this forgiueneſs proſper may: […]

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 6:47:

     Whoſoeuer commeth to me, and heareth my ſayings, and doeth them, I will ſhew you to whom he is like.

   • 1840 May 5​, Thomas Carlyle, “Lecture I. The Hero as Divinity. Odin. Paganism: Scandinavian Mythology.”, in On Heroes, Hero-Worship and The Heroic in History, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1840, →OCLC, page 8:

     This world, after all our science and sciences, is still a miracle; wonderful, inscrutable, magical and more, to whosoever will think of it.

   • 1982 (date recorded), Rod Temperton (lyrics and music), “Thriller”, performed by Michael Jackson:

     Whosoever shall be found without the soul for getting down, must stand and face the hounds of hell

• See who and whom.

• who
• whoever
• whomsoever

• howsoever