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PlainSpell

weir

/wɪɹ/noun, verb

weir is spelled W-E-I-R: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 3.3 times per million words in written English, the 14,509th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, weir means “An adjustable dam placed across a river to regulate the flow of water downstream” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of weir is weirs.

How many letters and syllables are in weir?

Letters4: W-E-I-R
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing3.3 times per million words; the 14,509th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is weir?

Weir appears 3.3 times per million words in written English, the 14,509th 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 weir?

  • UK /wɪə̯/
  • US /wɪɹ/
  • /wiːɹ/

Weir has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-weir.ogg, En-us-Weir.oga, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with weir

Also written: wear.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with weir?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as weir from its last stressed vowel (/ɪɹ/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: wire.

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 weir

  • weirs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • weiring participle, present
  • weired participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does weir mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    An adjustable dam placed across a river to regulate the flow of water downstream.

  2. 2

    A fence placed across a river to catch fish.

  3. 3

    obsoleteSeaweed.

verb

  1. 1

    To put a weir, or weirs (in a river)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Weir in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchseuil (adjustable dam), écrille, bordigue (fence to catch fish)
GermanWehr (adjustable dam), Fischwehr (fence to catch fish)
Portuguesecomporta (adjustable dam), caniçado (fence to catch fish)
Spanishcompuerta, vertedero, aliviadero (adjustable dam), corral de pesca, represa pesquera, pesquera (fence to catch fish)

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 weir come from?

From Middle English were, from Old English wer, from werian (“to dam up”), from Proto-West Germanic *warjan, from Proto-Germanic *warjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to cover”); Cognate with Old Norse ver (“station for fishing”), Sanskrit वृणोति (vṛṇóti). Related to warranty.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after weir