Whither is a formal, rather old-fashioned adverb meaning to what place, as in whither shall we go; wither is a verb meaning to shrink, dry up, or lose strength, as in the flowers withered. They are pronounced almost alike, but whither asks about direction while wither describes decline. If the word is asking where something is headed, it is whither; if something is drying up or fading, it is wither.
The core difference
Whither asks about direction or fate, while wither describes something shrinking, drying up, or losing strength.
- whither — to what place, or questioning the future of something: Whither the print newspaper in an age of instant news?
- wither — to shrink, dry up, or lose vitality: Without rain, the crops began to wither.
- wither — to gradually lose strength or importance: Support for the campaign withered as the months passed.
How to tell them apart
Whither has largely dropped out of everyday speech, so most people meet it in older writing or in a deliberately formal, rhetorical question about where something is heading, such as whither goes the high street. Wither is the everyday word, used for plants drying up in the heat or for support, enthusiasm or an argument fading away over time.
The two are easy to swap because they sound so similar, but a simple check helps: if you could replace the word with to where, you need whither; if you could replace it with shrivel or fade, you need wither.
