why I can't find the word"whosever" in dictionaries?

[roseriver1012]

Why can't I find this word in either Oxford or Longman dictionary? Does it mean this word doesn't exist at all? Who can explain it for me? Thanks!

 

[Raymott]

Why can't I find this word in either Oxford or Longman dictionary? Does it mean this word doesn't exist at all? Who can explain it for me? Thanks!

"Whosever" is not a word. Perhaps you mean "whosoever":
Definition of whosoever pronoun from Cambridge Dictionary Online: Free English Dictionary and Thesaurus

 

[roseriver1012]

Here is where I met the word:
---Your book, Tommy?
---No, Mom, it's my friend's.
---Remember to return it to whosever name is on it.

Do you mean the last sentence is not right?
Then what word would you use in the last sentence?

 

[Raymott]

Here is where I met the word:
---Your book, Tommy?
---No, Mom, it's my friend's.
---Remember to return it to whosever name is on it.

Do you mean the last sentence is not right?
Yes. In general terms, if a word doesn't exist, then a sentence containing that non-word is not a correct sentence. Besides, even the correct word, 'whosoever' is obsolete, and nobody's Mom talks this way.
Then what word would you use in the last sentence?

"Remember to return it to the person whose name is on it".

 

[BobK]

"Whosever" is not a word. ...

:-? The OED says it's 'rare' though, and the two examples it gives are taken from 18th and 19th-cent. sources. You're right though, nobody uses it. (I've heard it occasionally, as a self-correction after someone's said "whoever's". ;-)

b