Wether, Whether, Weather

by Craig Shrives

The Quick Answer

What is the difference between wether, weather, and whether?

Wether. A wether is a castrated ram (male sheep).
Weather. Weather refers to the state of the atmosphere (e.g., temperature, wind, clouds, rain).
Whether. Whether is a conjunction with a similar meaning to if (e.g., I wonder whether it will rain.)

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A Video Summary

Here is a short video summarizing the differences between weather, whether, and wether.

Wether, Weather, and Whether

The words wether, weather, and whether sound identical, but their meanings are very different.

Wether

The word wether is most commonly seen as a misspelling for whether or weather. A wether is a castrated ram (a male sheep) or a castrated billy (a male goat).

Farmers will castrate their male goats or sheep to create wethers to ensure only the best male breeds with the females. Also of note, non-wethers (i.e., uncastrated males) show more aggression (to people and their young) and tend to stink (as non-wethers urinate on themselves during breeding season and have active glands that excrete an unpleasant scent).

From a grammatical perspective, the word wether is a noun. (More specifically, wether is a common noun and a gender-specific noun.)

Whether

The conjunction whether is similar to if. It is most often used to introduce an indirect question. (Provided the spelling is correct, whether is generally used correctly by native English speakers. The rules for using whether are covered in more detail in the lesson Whether and If.)

Examples:

Sarah wants to know whether the visit is still on schedule.
I am going to the fair, whether it's raining or not.

Weather

As a noun, the word weather means the atmosphere in terms of temperature, wind, clouds, and precipitation. As a verb, to weather can mean to withstand or to endure(e.g., to weather an onslaught) or to erode (over time) (e.g., to weather the surface rock).

Examples:

I am not going fishing today. Have you seen the weather?

weather

We'll anchor up, weather the storm and then head back to land.

weather

The sea will weather that rope in less than a week.

weather

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"Smashing Grammar" (2019)
Written by the founder of Grammar Monster, "Smashing Grammar" includes a glossary of grammar essentials (from apostrophes to zeugma) and a chapter on easily confused words (from affect/effect to whether/if). Each entry starts with a simple explanation and basic examples before moving to real-life, entertaining examples. All entries conclude with a section highlighting why the grammar point is relevant for a writer and top-level bullet points summarizing the entry. [More�]

"Grammar for Grown-ups" (2011)
Vocational rather than academic, "Grammar for Grown-ups" is packed with real-life examples and keeps you engaged with a wealth of great quotations from Homer the Greek to Homer the Simpson. Straight talking and methodical, Craig Shrives draws on his years compiling Grammar Monster and as an army officer to present a comprehensive but light-hearted and easily digestible grammar reference guide. [More�]