wether

See also: weþer

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwɛðɚ/
• IPA^(key): /ˈwɛðə/
• Rhymes: -ɛðə(ɹ)
• Homophones: weather, whether (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

Etymology 1

(deprecated template usage)

From Middle English wether, wethir, wedyr, from Old English weþer (“a wether, ram”), from Proto-Germanic *weþruz (“wether”), from Proto-Indo-European *wet- (“year”). 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 buck goat.
2. A castrated ram.
   • c. 1596-97 William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act IV scene i^[1]:

     I am a tainted wether of the flock,

     Meetest for death […]

Derived terms

• bellwether

Translations

castrated buck goat

• Danish: bede (da) c
• Dutch: weer (nl) m
• Esperanto: kastrita virkapro (eo), eksvirkapro
• Finnish: salvupukki
• German: Mönch (de) m, kastrierter Ziegenbock (de) m
• Kazakh: серке (serke)
• Latin: vervex m
• Navajo: tłʼízí choʼádinii
• Portuguese: castrão (pt) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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
• Turkish: iğdiş teke, burulmuş teke
• Tuvan: серге (serge)
• Volapük: hokapar (vo)

castrated ram

• Catalan: moltó (ca) m
• Czech: skopec (cs) m
• Danish: bede (da) c
• Dutch: hamel (nl) m
• Esperanto: kastrita virŝafo
• Faroese: geldingur m
• Finnish: oinas (fi)
• Friulian: monton
• German: Hammel (de) m, Schöps (de) m
• Hungarian: ürü (hu)
• Irish: molt m
• Italian: montone (it) m
• Kazakh: ісек (ısek)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: vervex
• Manx: mohlt m, mohltin m
• Maori: hipi tame raho-poka, wēta
• Polish: skop (pl) m
• Portuguese: carneiro castrado m
• Romanian: batal (ro) 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
• 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
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

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)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Turkish: iğdiş etmek (tr), burmak (tr), kısırlaştırmak, 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^[2]:

     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)