Whether

• POS: Conjunction, Pronoun
• HYPHEN: wheth=er

CIDE DICTIONARY

Whether, pron. [OE. whether, AS. hwæer; akin to OS. hwear, OFries. hweder, OHG. hwedar, wedar, G. weder, conj., neither, Icel. hvārr whether, Goth. hwaar, Lith. katras, L. uter, Gr. , , Skr. katara, from the interrogatively pronoun, in AS. hwā who. . See Who, and cf. Either, Neither, Or, conj.].

 Which (of two); which one (of two); -- used interrogatively and relatively.  [1913 Webster]
"Now choose yourself whether that you liketh."  [1913 Webster]
"One day in doubt I cast for to compare
Whether in beauties' glory did exceed."  [1913 Webster]
"Whether of them twain did the will of his father?"  [1913 Webster]

Whether, conj. 

 In case; if; -- used to introduce the first or two or more alternative clauses, the other or others being connected by or, or by or whether. When the second of two alternatives is the simple negative of the first it is sometimes only indicated by the particle not or no after the correlative, and sometimes it is omitted entirely as being distinctly implied in the whether of the first.  [1913 Webster]
"And now who knows
But you, Lorenzo, whether I am yours?"  [1913 Webster]
"You have said; but whether wisely or no, let the forest judge."  [1913 Webster]
"For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's."  [1913 Webster]
"But whether thus these things, or whether not;
Whether the sun, predominant in heaven,
Rise on the earth, or earth rise on the sun, . . .
Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid."  [1913 Webster]

Whether or no, in either case; in any case; as, I will go whether or no. -- Whether that, whether. Shak.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Whether, conj. introducing the first or both of alternative possibilities (I doubt whether it matters; I do not know whether they have arrived or not).

Idiom

whether or no see NO(2).

Etymology

OE hw{aelig}ther, hwether f. Gmc