Wether, Weather, Whether

by Sharon

Wether is a prime example of a word that will slip past the spell check. It is easily confused with two of its homonyms, whether and weather. Flying fingers find it easy to miss the single letter that separates them. Unless you’re a farmer, you might not even know that wether is either a:

male sheep or ram (the Oxford Dictionary of Etymology traces its roots to Old English, Old High German, Old Norse and Goth)

or a:

castrated ram or billy goat (according to A Word A Day).

We all know that MS Word can be easily confused, but there’s no need for us to face the same confusion.

Weather, that stuff up there in the sky, is the ‘condition of the atmosphere with respect to heat or cold, calm or storm, etc’. That’s according to the Oxford Dictionary of Etymology.

Interestingly, when it was first used in Old English in the 12th century, weather always had adverse implications. In the 14th century, the term also referred to the wind direction, and its roots lie in various terms meaning either wind or storm.

Weathering, derived from weather, is the result of exposure to wind and weather.

The frequently misspelled whether is used to introduce a question, often outlining a choice between options. Its roots lie in Old English and Old High German.

Here’s my attempt at using them all in a sentence. The farmer wondered whether the adverse weather had affected his wether.

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26 Responses to “Wether, Weather, Whether”

  1. Guardian Angel on February 26, 2008 11:38 pm

    Hi! I am one of those who just found this site. I really find this very interesting and informative.

    I am not sure if I am on the right post to post a comment. But I hope somenone here can differentiate the word “advise” and advice” and how they should be used in a sentence. Though I know that there is no such thing as an advicer, but rather adviser. Both words seem to have the same meaning, that is, to give tips, am I right?

    Thanks and I am proud to be included in one of your thousands of subscribers.

  2. Jeanne on July 16, 2008 3:34 am

    My mum often said to me when I was little, ‘A man stood on a hill and wondered, whether The wether would weather The weather or whether The weather the wether would kill.’

    I hope that’s correct.

  3. jozritj on November 3, 2008 12:17 am

    In fact, advise is a verbe: I advise, you advise… and advice is a noun: an advice.

  4. arbee on January 15, 2009 4:38 pm

    hi,

    Well said about the use and meaning of “advise” and “advice”. Man, this site really is cool.

    thank you

  5. jonathan on September 10, 2009 9:54 am

    Weather, whether or wether?
    Great advice and first to pop up on G search.
    Thanks i may be back.

  6. Gaylon on September 17, 2009 10:40 pm

    Correction to my last post: I believe I’d written, “The weather had been forecast…” rather than, “the weather was forecast”. Seems the verbage was her issue wanting to use “forecasted” rather than “forecast”. I don’t believe there is a difference, yet still – the conflict. Whacha think?

  7. mina on September 6, 2010 2:39 pm

    Ha, that’s funny. I just came across this site because I was trying to spell “whether” and spelt “wether” instead. I didn’t think it looked right and looked it up in dictionary on the mac. I was like, “That’s not what I meant!”

  8. ebook on September 24, 2010 12:33 pm

    so where’s the ebook? there wasn’t a link in the email

  9. Guetta on December 8, 2010 8:33 pm

    Yep, first on google for me either. I find the english language somewhat tricky and I hope this site will help me. Going to browse some more and might get addicted :)

  10. beef on December 11, 2010 12:23 pm

    A way that I like to remember this is that a wether is missing something, and weAther is about the Atmosphere, and whether you can remember those two will determine whether you can spell whether correctly.

  11. njuod on December 18, 2010 2:07 pm

    good one beef!!! now it’s very easier to remember. thanks!

  12. yochi on January 6, 2011 11:50 am

    In college marching band, our director used to say “we have weather” whenever it was raining. We all thought it was odd. Now I understand what he may have just been using the word in its original sense.

  13. Obeakemeh matthew on February 18, 2011 6:52 am

    Good day to you, am a Nigerian. Infact, am really pleased with how you elaborated those latin abbreviations. I love it. I bursted in this morning not knowing it’s an educative site.

  14. Judith on March 23, 2011 11:11 pm

    Hi, does anyone know if there’s a book or a site which tackles extensively the proper use of prepositions? Please help…

  15. Judith on March 23, 2011 11:16 pm

    By the way, i love this site. It’s so informative yet simple in approach… keep up

  16. musafirs on March 24, 2011 3:50 am

    To all the English scholars who pride urselves.
    who said english is easy ?

    fill this blanks with yes or No…..

    1.__________ _____ i don’t have a brain.
    2.__________ _____ I don’t have any sense.
    3. ____________ ___ i am stupid.
    4. ____________ ___ i am mad.

    Try to fill . all the best…

  17. Jim on April 16, 2011 4:41 pm

    So the farmer was wondering whether the adverse weather had weathered his wether?

  18. Dee on April 30, 2011 3:19 am

    respondng to beef:
    The word wether is missing two things!

  19. danilo libanan on July 23, 2011 1:50 am

    this site is simple yet very informative and helpful..

  20. Jeff on September 20, 2011 12:08 am

    To me and many other native anglophones, “whether” has a different first sound and is therefore not a homophone of the other two words.

  21. Brian on January 13, 2012 4:55 pm

    What of weather with the meaning of “To endure”? Weather the storm. Whether the battle. Wether the illness. Must say the first one looks correct to me. Despite the use of the word storm I think this is an entirely different meaning from either of the ones above. Which is correct?

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