err

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English erren, from Old French errer (“to wander, err, mistake”), from Latin errō (“wander, stray, err, mistake”, verb), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ers- (“to be angry, lose one's temper”). Cognate with Old English eorre, ierre (“anger, wrath, ire”), Old English iersian (“to be angry with, rage, irritate, provoke”), Old English ierre (“wandering, gone astray, confused”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɜː(ɹ)/, (rare) /ɛə(ɹ)/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɛɚ/, /ɝ/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ), -ɛə(ɹ)
• /ɜː(ɹ)/ Homophone: er
• /ɛə(ɹ)/ Homophones: air, are (unit of measurement), ayr, Ayr, e'er, ere, eyre, heir

Verb

err (third-person singular simple present errs, present participle erring, simple past and past participle erred)

1. (intransitive, formal) To make a mistake.

   He erred in his calculations, and made many mistakes.

   • 1910, James P. Porter, chapter 2, in Intelligence and Imitation in Birds; A Criterion of Imitation‎, page 7:

     Artificial tests, then, can hardly err on the side of supplying too many opportunities for one bird to see another perform the act which is the model.

2. (intransitive) To sin.
3. (archaic) to stray.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:make a mistake

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Interjection

err

1. Elongated form of er (“sound of hesitation”).

   Err... what did you just say?

Albanian

Etymology

According to Orel, Proto-Albanian *ausra (“twilight”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ews- (“dawn”) (compare English Easter, Latin aurōra, Lithuanian aušrà).

Another theory links it to Proto-Indo-European *h₁régʷos. Cognate with Old Armenian երեկ (erek, “evening”), Sanskrit रजस् (rájas, “dimness, darkness, mist”) and Old Norse røkkr (“twilight”).

Noun

err m

1. dark, darkness

Synonyms

• terr

Derived terms

• errem
• irë
• errësirë

Estonian

Noun

err (genitive , partitive )

1. The name of the Latin-script letter R.

Faroese

Noun

err n (genitive singular ers, plural err)

1. The name of the Latin-script letter R.

Declension

See also

• (Latin-script letter names) bókstavur; a / fyrra a, á, be, de, edd, e, eff, ge, há, i / fyrra i, í / fyrra í, jodd, ká, ell, emm, enn, o, ó, pe, err, ess, te, u, ú, ve, seinna i, seinna í, seinna a, ø

Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: err
• Rhymes: -ɛrː

Noun

err

1. The name of the Latin-script letter R.

Declension

See also

• (Latin-script letter names) betű; a, á, bé, cé, csé, dé, dzé, dzsé, e, é, eff, gé, gyé, há, i, í, jé, ká, ell, ellipszilon / elly / ejj, emm, enn, enny, o, ó, ö, ő, pé, kú, err, ess, essz, té, tyé, u, ú, ü, ű, vé, dupla vé / vevé, iksz, ipszilon, zé, zsé. (See also: Latin script letters.)

Further reading

• r in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

Icelandic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛrː/

  Rhymes: -ɛrː

Noun

err n (genitive singular errs, nominative plural err)

1. The name of the Latin-script letter R.

Declension

Võro

Noun

err (genitive , partitive )

1. The name of the Latin-script letter R.

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.