Revised as of
12 Jan 2023
For some reason, I’m seeing these words confused rather frequently. Too frequently for the heroine in one novel who was withering every time her lover had sex with her! Gads, how bad must he have felt as she shriveled up beneath him! And how lousy he must have been as a lover!
Then there’s the character in another storyline who simply wandered off (well, what else could I assume when the author was using “whither“??), but I think they were supposed to shrivel up instead. Oopsie . . .
I’m hoping that eventually the heroine will writhe, as her lover, hopefully, improves his technique.
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Whither | Wither | Writhe |
|---|---|---|
Path Curving Over West Hill by Ken Grainger is under the CC-BY-SA-2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — Whither thou goest, I shalt follow . . . |
Dead Plant in Pots by vetcw3 is under the CC-BY-SA-2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — The cold of winter causes plants to wither. |
Worms From Coffee Compost Pile is Shanegenziuk’s own work under the CC-BY-SA-3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — Worms writhing in coffee grounds. |
| Part of Grammar: | ||
| Adverb 1; Adverb, relative 1; Conjunction 2 | Verb, intransitive & transitive
Third person present verb: withers |
Noun; Verb, intransitive & transitive Plural for the noun: withes Third person present verb: writhes |
| Adverb: [Archaic or literary] To what place, state, condition, position, degree 1
To which (with reference to a place) To where? Relative Adverb:
Conjunction: To whatever place, purpose To what situation, position, degree, or end To the place at, in, or to which |
Verb, intransitive: Shrivel up (plant, limb, skin) Cease to flourish Verb, transitive: Mortify someone with a scornful look or manner |
Noun: [Knot theory] The number of negative crossings subtracted from the number of positive crossings in a knot Verb, intransitive: To shrink mentally, as in acute discomfort Verb, transitive:
To twist (oneself, the body, etc.) about, as in pain. |
| Examples: | ||
| Adverb: Whither are we bound? Then there’s the nursery rhyme: The lake, whither we were conducted. Relative Adverb: We could drive whither we pleased. Conjunction: They landed on the shores whither the storm had tossed them. It was to the island whither we drifted. Let them go whither they will. |
Verb, intransitive: The grass had withered to an unappealing brown. The withered leaves lay on the ground. The garden withered quickly as the cold set in. There was a girl with a withered arm. Our programs could wither away if they did not command local support. Verb, transitive: She withered him with a glance. “Three years apart had withered her hopes, and she was engaged to someone else” (Garth). |
Noun: “Writhe is a geometric quantity, meaning that while deforming a curve (or diagram) in such a way that does not change its topology, one may still change its writhe” (Knot Theory). “The writhe of a minimal knot diagram is not a knot invariant, as exemplified by the Perko pair, which have differing writhes (Hoste et al. 1998”; Writhe). Verb, intransitive: She bit her lip, writhing in suppressed fury. She writhed in embarrassment. He writhed in agony on the ground. Verb, transitive: She was writhing her body with abandon on the dance floor. “His lips … were now writhed into unholy contortions.” – Stephen Crane |
| Derivatives: | ||
| Adjective: nonwithering, overwithered, unwithered, unwithering, withered, withering Adverb: witheringly Noun: witheredness, witherer, withering |
Adverb: writhingly Noun: writher |
|
| History of the Word: | ||
|
Late Middle English and apparently a variant of weather, ultimately differentiated for certain senses. | Old English wrīthan meaning make into coils, plait, fasten with a cord is of Germanic origin and related to wreathe. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Whither vs. Wither vs. Writhe
Apple Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com: whither
Garth, John. “Tolkien and the Great War: The threshold of Middle-earth.” PDFCoffee.com. n.d. Web. 12 Jan 2023. <https://pdfcoffee.com/tolkien-and-the-great-war-john-garth-5-pdf-free.html>.
Merriam-Webster: whither
YourDictionary.com: whither
Pinterest Photo Credits:
Withered Tree near Track to Fen Farm by Ian Paterson is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license and Writhing Skink is Ryanvanhuyssteen’s own work under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license. Both are via Wikimedia Commons.
