if the rule is 'i' before 'e' except after 'c' then why is wierd spelled the way it is

Question

i lost a spelling bee once

Answer 1

english is a funky language. lots of words that don't quite fit the rules.

Answer 2

The rule is "i before e except after c... or when ending in eigh, like neighbor and weigh." The last part of this little rhyme indicates that there are exceptions to the first part of the rule -- including the word "wierd." The entomology (or history of a word) usually leads to how it is spelled today, and there are a number of old words which could be the origin of the word "wierd," including the German word "wird." English has a lot of funny rules and conventions, and you were tripped up by one of them.

Answer 3

I once read that MOST of the spelling rules are more exception than rule, especially: 'two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking and says it's name'. There are only 2 or 3 spelling RULES that are true more than 75% of the time. Most are true less than 50% of the time! This is why I'm not teaching them to my son - just how to spell correctly. Why would I teach him something is true if it's only true in 4 out of 10 cases (or less)?

BTW - you spelled weird incorrectly. This word uses the spelling 'rule' of: two vowels go walking...

English words are often difficult to spell because of the many roots of the language - primarily Latin and Greek, but with help from Spanish, French, German, Italian (Latin), Japanese, Chinese, Sanskrit, and many others, each with their own spelling rules.

Answer 4

There are always exceptions. For example, look at the plural rules (add -s or -es, depending on the last letter of the word). Some words such as children, teeth, feet, sheep, etc. are an exception. English is one of the hardest languages to learn (along with German) because despite grammar and spelling rules, there are always exceptions.

Answer 5

The English language is a combination of many other languages such as Latin, Greek, Spanish, and more European influences. The rule is generally correct but due to the hybrid of sources this can not be used all the time. Various example can be given, but I shall leave it as this. Languages do not always follow the rule so because our dialect is truly a bunch of languages combine it has different rules for each origin.

Answer 6

It's not a hard and fast rule, but in general that is right. It's much easier to remember the exceptions than the ones that follow the rule.

Answer 7

well, actually, the full rule would be:
i before e, except after c, unless saying a long a (eight, freight, weight) or followed by a phonetic z (leisure, seizure) - fitting into none of these 3 categories should make it wierd, that it isn't makes weird just plain exceptional

Answer 8

The 'I before E' mnemonic is just a general rule to help people remember how to spell many words, however, there are MANY exceptions, 'weird' being one of them, 'Science', 'vein', and 'their' are a few others.

Answer 9

You meant "w-e-i-r-d" right? And the reason is because English is weird!!Really. There are almost no rules that hold across the board. Only rough, "sort of" guidelines.It's like a big, crazy, bent-arsed, grafted tree. And that's the way it is.

Answer 10

It is spelled 'wierd' because it has NO preceeding 'C'. That's the rule and it followed the rule.

Answer 11

Because there are exceptions to every rule. Weird is one of them.