Etymology

wither-

Today it means: Against, in opposition to; in return; counter-; contrary (to); in the opposite direction (of or to); backwards. Full definition →

Middle English wither- ← Old English wiþer- ← Proto-West Germanic *wiþra-
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*wī-tero-“further apart”
  2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*wiþrą“against, toward”
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*wiþra-
  4. Old English · inherited fromwiþer-“again, against”
  5. Middle English · inherited fromwither-
  6. English todaywither-

From Middle English wither-, from Old English wiþer- (“again, against”), from Proto-West Germanic *wiþra-, from Proto-Germanic *wiþrą (“against, toward”), from Proto-Indo-European *wī-tero- (“further apart”), *wī- (“separate, alone”). Cognate with Low German wedder (“against”), Dutch weer (“again, back”), German wider (“against, contrary to”), wieder (“again”). More at with.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Germanic*wiþrą all →

with

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.