Etymology

whether

wheth·er
W4H4E1T1H4E1R1

Today it means: Introduces a simple indirect question (with no correlative). Full definition →

First used 11th–19th c.Middle English whether ← Old English hweþer ← Proto-West Germanic *hwaþar
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*hwaþeraz
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*hwaþar
  3. Old English · inherited fromhweþer
  4. Middle English · inherited fromwhether
  5. English todaywhether

From Middle English whether, whather, from Old English hweþer, hwæþer, from Proto-West Germanic *hwaþar, from Proto-Germanic *hwaþeraz, comparative form of *hwaz (“who”). Cognate with North Frisian weđer (“if, whether”), German weder (“neither”), Swedish var (“each, every”), Icelandic hvor (“each of two, which of two”).

First known use, by meaning

  • 11th–19th c. Which of two.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.