Whether

How to spell whether

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce whether

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does whether mean?

1. conjunctionA conjunction introducing a choice between alternatives or expressing a doubt or question.

Whether in a sentence

• I'm not sure whether to go or to stay.

• Can you tell me whether this is correct?

• Whether you like it or not, the meeting is at nine.

• The decision depends on whether it rains.

• Ask her whether she's coming.

Where does whether come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Whether comes from the Old English hwæþer, which literally meant 'which of two' and worked as both a pronoun and a conjunction for choosing between a pair of options. It belongs to the same ancient family of question words that begins with the 'wh' cluster, including who, what, and which, all descended from the Proto-Germanic interrogative stem hwa-. The '-ther' ending is the old comparative suffix that pairs two things, the same element you can hear in 'either' and 'other'. Over the centuries the spoken 'hw' sound softened to a plain 'w' for most speakers, which is exactly why whether and the rhyming 'weather' became sound-alikes and a persistent spelling trap. The crucial reminder is that whether keeps the 'h' right after the 'w', a fossil of that original hwæþer, while it carries no second 'e' before the 'r' the way 'weather' does.

How the word is built

• Conjunction: introduces alternatives.

Words that sound like whether

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• weather: The state of the atmosphere at a particular time and place, including temperature, rainfall, wind, and sunshine.