why does the rule, "I before E except after C" not apply to the word weird?

Answer 1

There is no particlar reason for it. There are many exceptions to practically all English grammar and spelling rules, which is one of the reasons English is such a difficult language to learn.

Here are more words where the rule does not apply:

beige, cleidoic, codeine, conscience, deify, deity, deign,
dreidel, eider, eight, either, feign, feint, feisty,
foreign, forfeit, freight, gleization, gneiss, greige,
greisen, heifer, heigh-ho, height, heinous, heir, heist,
leitmotiv, neigh, neighbor, neither, peignoir, prescient,
rein, science, seiche, seidel, seine, seismic, seize, sheik,
society, sovereign, surfeit, teiid, veil, vein, weight,
weir.

Here is a poem and a website you may find interesting:

When the English tongue we speak
Why is break not rhymed with freak?
Will you tell me why it’s true
We say sew, but likewise few?
And the maker of a verse,
Cannot rhyme his horse with worse?
Beard is not the same as heard,
Cord is different from word,
Cow is cow, but low is low,
Shoe is never rhymed with foe.
Think of hose and dose and lose,
And think of goose and yet of choose,
Think of comb and tomb and bomb,
Doll and roll and home and some.
And since pay is rhymed with say,
Why not paid with said I pray?
Think of blood and food and good;
Mould is not pronounced like could.
Wherefore done, but gone and lone -
Is there any reason known?
To sum up all, it seems to me
Sounds and letters don’t agree.

Answer 2

There's a lot of words it doesn't apply to..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_before_e_except_after_c
There's an interesting read on it..
Here's some copy and paste from that site..
""I before e, except after c" is a mnemonic device used to help students remember how to spell certain words in the English language. It means that, in words where i and e fall together, the order is ie, except directly following c, when it is ei. For example:

* ie in words like siege, friend
* ei in words like ceiling, receive

However, in its short form the rule has many common exceptions, such as species, science, sufficient (where ie follows c) or seize, weird, vein, kaleidoscope and neighbor (where ei is not preceded by c). More exceptions are listed below. Various augmentations to the rhyme have been proposed to handle these exceptions."
"An augmented American version is:

i before e
except after c
or when sounding like a
as in neighbor and weigh

(Here a is [eɪ].) This includes many of the exceptions but still fails to correctly handle many others, such as protein. this doesn't always work though."

Answer 3

Because it's a weird word.... Haha get it? That's the way my teacher way back in middle school had us remember it...
But that's a dumb rule because it doesn't apply to like half the ei or ie words. But oh well, it works sometimes.
Hope I answered this ;)

Answer 4

BECAUSE it is weird!

except for in "ei" as in neighbor and weigh....that part of the rule doesn't work so I don't know either! Hey, what about Either?? That breaks the rule too....

Answer 5

Because there are exceptions to every rule.
Your question is not a rule but a guide.

Equally why is gauge not spelt guage? When it is pronounced gage.

Answer 6

Because there are and always have been exceptions to the rule and your teacher should have told you that.

Answer 7

Because it doesn't apply to some words. It applies to most but only some don't apply.

Answer 8

Because, dear, that catchy phrase is just a little ditty to assist people with spelling and is not a hard-and-fast rule. There are plenty of exceptions.

English is a wonderful but nutty language. We have many irregularities.

Answer 9

Because the American language is a mix of all languages, and there are exceptions to ALL the rules.
That's why the so-called "experts" say the English is one of the hardest languages to learn.

Answer 10

It also doesn't apply to neighbor or sleigh. There are exceptions to every rule.