Etymograph

English

weather

Weather comes from Middle English weder, from Old English weder, from Proto-Germanic *wedrą, from PIE *wedʰrom, from *h₂weh₁- ‘to blow’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂weh₁-1‘to blow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wedʰrom1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wedrą1reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wedr1reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150weder1
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500weder1‘weather’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1596weather1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English weather
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1596, Edmund Spenser, Book V, Canto IV: “[An eagle] soaring through his wide empire of the…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂weh₁-Wiktionary, English weather‘to blow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wedʰromWiktionary, English weatherreconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wedrąWiktionary, English weatherreconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wedrWiktionary, English weatherreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150wederWiktionary, English weather
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wederWiktionary, English weather‘weather’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1596weatherWiktionary, English weather. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1596, Edmund Spenser, Book V, Canto IV: “[An eagle] soaring through his wide empire of the…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with weather, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁- ‘to blow’

  • event ← éventer ← *exventāre ← ventus ← *wē̆ntos
  • wind ← wynd ← *windaz ← *h₂wéh₁n̥tos ← *h₂wéh₁n̥ts
  • van ← vannus ← *watnos
  • winter ← *wintru ← *wintruz ← *h₂wéh₁n̥tos ← *h₂wéh₁n̥ts
  • wing ← winge ← vængr ← *wēingijaz
  • velocity ← vélocité ← vēlōcitās ← vēlōx ← *h₂weh₁-lo-
  • athletic ← athletique ← āthlēticus ← ᾱ̓θλητῐκός ← ἀθλητής
  • athlete ← āthlēta ← ἀθλητής ← ἀθλέω ← ἆθλον
  • ventilation ← ventilacion ← ventilatio ← ventilo ← ventulus
  • ventilate ← ventilātus

8 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun The short-term state of the atmosphere at a specific time and place, including the temperature, relative humidity, cloud cover, precipitation, wind, etc.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “weather”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁- / weather