Other forms: bellwethers
A bellwether is a sign of the way things are about to go. A bellwether state, a bellwether for the market, treated as a bellwether.
The original is a castrated ram with a bell round its neck that the flock follows, which is exactly the image. It is often misspelled as bellweather, since nobody now knows what a wether is.
1nounbellwetherA sign of the way things are about to go.
“Sales of new cars are often a bellwether for the health of the economy.”
bellwether is a sign.
Bell plus wether, a castrated ram, from the belled leader of a flock.
Old English
belle
Middle English
belwether
English, today
bellwether
From Middle English belwether, from und + belle, from Old English belle. From Middle English belwether, belleweder, equivalent to bell + wether.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA