You've probably been taught the spelling rule 'i before e, except after c', which helps you spell words like 'believe' and 'receive'. Which of these words actually BREAKS that rule?
- receive
- believe
- weird
- ceiling
Why C? And why not the others?
Correct answer: C. weird
The rule says the letters should appear as 'ei' right after a c, and as 'ie' everywhere else. 'Receive' and 'ceiling' both spell 'ei' immediately after a c, so they follow the rule exactly as taught. 'Believe' spells 'ie' with no c anywhere near it, which also follows the rule. 'Weird' is the one that actually breaks it: there is no c in the word at all, yet it is spelled 'ei' rather than the 'ie' the rule would predict for a non-c word — which is exactly why 'weird' is so often listed as the rule's most famous exception, memorably summed up in the fuller version of the rhyme that ends 'and weird is just weird'. In reality, English has so many other exceptions to this rule — words like 'seize', 'height', 'foreign', and 'protein' — that many spelling guides consider the rule unreliable overall, useful for a handful of common words but not something to trust blindly.
Source: Merriam-Webster: 'I Before E Except After C: Is It a Rule?'