[dayglored]

> The "i before e, except after c" rule breaks down on this word. Weird huh?

I learned it as: "I before E except after C, unless sounded as 'A' as in 'neighbor' and 'weigh'."

But that still leaves out "weird". It's definitely an outlier.

[Jamestown1630]

From Anglo-Saxon ‘Wyrd’, which does make more sense in modern English spelling/phonetics:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyrd

[HartleyMBaldwin]

Well, you have to seize any help available for English spelling.