# weather

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈwɛð.ə/ · frequency rank #1,443

## Definitions
1. The short-term state of the atmosphere at a specific time and place, including the temperature, relative humidity, cloud cover, precipitation, wind, etc.
2. Unpleasant or destructive atmospheric conditions, and their effects.
3. The direction from which the wind is blowing; used attributively to indicate the windward side.
4. A situation.
5. A storm; a tempest.
6. A light shower of rain.

## Etymology
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”).
Cognates
Cognate with Scots wather (“weather”), Saterland Frisian Weeder (“weather”), Cimbrian bèttar (“weather”), Dutch weder, weer (“weather”), German Wetter (“weather”), Low German Weder (“weather”), Luxembourgish Wieder (“weather”), Yiddish וועטער (veter, “weather”), Danish vejr (“weather”), Faroese, Icelandic veður (“weather”), Norwegian Bokmål vær (“weather”), Norwegian Nynorsk veder, vêr (“weather”), Swedish väder (“weather”); also more distantly related to Russian вёдро (vjódro, “fair weather”) and perhaps Albanian vrëndë (“light rain”).
Other cognates include Sanskrit निर्वाण (nirvāṇa, “blown or put out, extinguished”).

## Easily confused with
- **weaver** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/weather-vs-weaver)
- **wither** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/weather-vs-wither)
- **wetter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/weather-vs-wetter)
- **wether** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/weather-vs-wether)
- **whether** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/weather-vs-whether)
- **weathered** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/weather-vs-weathered)
- **Water** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/water-vs-weather)
- **weaker** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/weaker-vs-weather)
- **washer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/washer-vs-weather)
- **wearer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wearer-vs-weather)
- **watcher** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/watcher-vs-weather)

## Common misspellings (10)
`ewather`, `waether`, `weahter`, `weatehr`, `weatherr`, `weathher`, `weathre`, `weatther`, `wetaher`, `wweather`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/weather