wether

See also: weþer

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈwɛðɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwɛðə/
• Rhymes: -ɛðə(ɹ)
• Homophones: weather; whether (wine–whine merger)

Etymology 1

From Middle English wether, wethir, wedyr, from Old English weþer (“a wether, ram”), from Proto-West Germanic *weþru, from Proto-Germanic *weþruz (“wether”), from Proto-Indo-European *wet- (“year”).

Cognates

Cognate with Scots weddir, woddir, wadder (“wether”), Dutch weder, weer (“wether”), German Widder (“wether, ram”), Norwegian Bokmål vær (“ram”), Norwegian Nynorsk vêr (“ram”), Swedish vädur (“wether, ram”), Icelandic veður (“wether, ram”), Latin vitulus (“calf”).

Alternative forms

• wedder (dialectal)

Noun

wether (plural wethers)

1. A castrated goat.
2. A castrated ram.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 179, column 1:

     I am a tainted Weather of the flocke, / Meeteſt for death, the weakeſt kinde of fruite

Derived terms

• bellwether

Translations

castrated goat

Afar: utkaalíyta Bulgarian: скопен козел (skopen kozel) Czech: hňup (cs) Danish: bede (da) c Dutch: weer (nl) m Esperanto: kastrita virkapro (eo), eksvirkapro, kapruko (eo) Finnish: salvupukki Galician: castrón (gl) m German: Mönch (de) m, kastrierter Ziegenbock (de) m Greek: Ancient Greek: ἴξᾰλος m (íxălos) Hausa: taurḕ Kazakh: серке (serke) Latin: vervex m Macedonian: брав m (brav) Mandinka: baaseenoo Mwaghavul: nkoor Navajo: tłʼízí choʼádinii Portuguese: castrão (pt) m Scottish Gaelic: cull-bhoc m, eibhreannach m, laos-boc m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: брав m Roman: brav (sh) m Spanish: castrón m Swedish: hammel (sv), kastrerad bagge Tigrinya: ሶር (sor) Tocharian B: alāᵤ Turkish: iğdiş teke, burulmuş teke Tuvan: серге (serge) Volapük: hokapar (vo)

castrated ram

Bulgarian: скопен овен (skopen oven) Catalan: moltó (ca) m Czech: skopec (cs) m Danish: bede (da) c Dutch: hamel (nl) m Esperanto: kastrita virŝafo, ŝafuko (eo) Faroese: geldingur m Finnish: oinas (fi) Friulian: monton Galician: roxelo (gl) m German: Hammel (de) m, Schöps (de) m Hungarian: ürü (hu) Irish: molt m Italian: montone (it) m Kazakh: ісек (ısek) Latin: vervex Manx: mohlt m, mohltin m Maori: hipi tame raho-poka, wēta Polabian: sťüp Polish: skop (pl) m Portuguese: carneiro castrado m Romanian: batal (ro) m Romansch: tschanc m, botsch chastrà m Russian: валу́х (ru) m (valúx) Scottish Gaelic: mult m Spanish: carnero castrado m, castrón m Swedish: hammel (sv) c Turkish: iğdiş koç, burulmuş koç Tuvan: ирт (irt) Volapük: hojip (vo) Welsh: mollt(yn) m, gwedder m (South)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Lithuanian: (please verify) skapas m

Verb

wether (third-person singular simple present wethers, present participle wethering, simple past and past participle wethered)

1. (transitive) To castrate a male sheep or goat.

Translations

to castrate a male sheep or goat

Finnish: kuohita (fi), salvaa (fi) Turkish: iğdiş etmek (tr), burmak (tr), kısırlaştırmak (tr), taşak burmak

Etymology 2

Noun

wether

1. Archaic spelling of weather.
   • 1527, George Joye, The storie of my state after the bishop had receyued the pryours letters‎:

     There was a great fyer in the chamber, the wether was colde, and I saw now and then a Bishop come out;

     cited after Samuel Roffey Maitland, 1866, p. 8

Anagrams

• reweth