weather
wea·ther/ˈwɛðɚ/noun, adjective, verb
weather is spelled W-E-A-T-H-E-R: 7 letters and 2 syllables (wea·ther). It appears 74 times per million words in written English, the 1,427th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “weather vs whether” about 27,100 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, weather means “The short-term state of the atmosphere at a specific time and place, including the temperature, relative humidity, cloud cover, precipitation, wind…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of weather is weathers.
How many letters and syllables are in weather?
| Letters | 7: W-E-A-T-H-E-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: wea·ther |
| In writing | 74 times per million words; the 1,427th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is weather?
Weather appears 74 times per million words in written English, the 1,427th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce weather?
- UK /ˈwɛðə/
- US /ˈwɛðɚ/
- Australia /ˈweðə/
Weather has 2 syllables, split wea·ther in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-weather.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with weather
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: wether, whether (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: wether.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with weather?
4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as weather from its last stressed vowel (/ɛðəɹ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: whereat, wreathe.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of weather
- weathers plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- weathering participle, present
- weathered participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does weather mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The short-term state of the atmosphere at a specific time and place, including the temperature, relative humidity, cloud cover, precipitation, wind, etc.
What's the weather like today?
- 2
Unpleasant or destructive atmospheric conditions, and their effects.
Wooden garden furniture must be well oiled as it is continuously exposed to weather.
- 3
The direction from which the wind is blowing; used attributively to indicate the windward side.
- 4
A situation.
- 5
obsoleteA storm; a tempest.
- 6
A light shower of rain.
adjective
- 1
Facing towards the flow of a fluid, usually air.
weather side, weather helm
verb
- 1
To expose to the weather, or show the effects of such exposure, or to withstand such effects.
- 2
To sustain the trying effect of; to bear up against and overcome; to endure; to resist.
April 18, 1850, Frederick William Robertson, An Address Delivered to the Members of the Working Man's Institute You will weather the difficulties yet.
- 3
To break down, of rocks and other materials, under the effects of exposure to rain, sunlight, temperature, and air.
- 4
To cause (rocks) to break down by crushing, grinding, and/or dissolving with acids.
- 5
To pass to windward in a vessel, especially to beat 'round.
to weather a cape to weather another ship
- 6
To endure or survive an event or action without undue damage.
Joshua weathered a collision with a freighter near South Africa.
- 7
To place (a hawk) unhooded in the open air.
- 8
To rain; to storm.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate weather?
Wiktionary records 3 abbreviations of weather: WPG, WX, wthr.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Weather in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | temps, météo , intempéries |
| German | Wetter , Wind und Wetter , verwittern , überstehen |
| Portuguese | tempo , mau tempo , aguentar |
| Spanish | tiempo atmosférico, tiempo meteorológico m temperie, temple, temperamento, cariz , intemperie |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does weather come from?
From Middle English weder, wedir, from Old English weder, from Proto-West Germanic *wedr, from Proto-Germanic *wedrą, from Proto-Indo-European *wedʰrom (=*we-dʰrom), from *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What to look up after weather
- weather or whether? the difference
- weather or wether? the difference
- leather rhymes with weather
- heather rhymes with weather
- weasely the entry before
- weatherboard the entry after
- English words starting with W the most written first
- Misspellings people search
- Count the syllables of any word
- Check the spelling of a text