mare

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English mare, mere, from Old English mīere (“female horse, mare”), from Proto-West Germanic *marhijā, from Proto-Germanic *marhijō (“female horse”), from *marhaz (“horse”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /mɛə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /mɛɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophone: mayor (in a number of dialects)
• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)

Noun

mare (plural mares)

1. An adult female horse.
   • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., , →OCLC:

     But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶ […] The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window at the old mare feeding in the meadow below by the brook, and a 'bead' could be drawn upon Molly, the dairymaid, kissing the fogger behind the hedge, […].

2. (UK, derogatory, slang) A foolish woman.
   • 2007, Hester Browne, Little Lady, Big Apple:

     The silly mare phoned your mother, talking about applying for a mortgage, and we don't want that, do we?

Antonyms

• stallion, stud and gelding refer to adult male horses (a colt refers to an immature one)

Coordinate terms

• (adult female horse): foal (young horse), colt (young male horse) and filly (young female horse); pony can refer to adult horses of either sex under a certain height.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Old English mare (“nightmare, monster”), from Proto-West Germanic *marā, from Proto-Germanic *marǭ (“nightmare, incubus”), from Proto-Indo-European *mor- (“feminine evil spirit”). Doublet of mara.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /mɛə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /mɛɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
• Homophone: mayor (in a number of dialects)

Noun

mare (plural mares)

2. (obsolete or historical) A type of evil spirit formerly thought to sit on the chest of a sleeping person; also, the feeling of suffocation felt during sleep, attributed to such a spirit.
3. (UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, colloquial) A nightmare; a frustrating or terrible experience.

   I'm having a complete mare today.

Derived terms

• daymare
• nightmare

Translations

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Latin mare (“sea”). Doublet of mar and mere.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑɹ.eɪ/, /ˈmɛɚ.i/, /ˈmɑɹ.i/
• Rhymes: -ɑɹi

Noun

mare (plural maria)

2. (planetology) A large, dark plain, which may have the appearance of a sea, such as those on the Moon
3. (planetology) On Saturn's moon Titan, any of several lakes which are large expanses of what is thought to be liquid hydrocarbons.

   Kraken Mare (a lake of liquid hydrocarbons on Titan which is slightly larger than the Caspian Sea)

Translations

Etymology 4

See mayor.

Noun

mare (plural mares)

1. Obsolete form of mayor.
2. Obsolete form of mair.

Anagrams

• Amer., Arem, Erma, Ream, amer., mear, rame, ramé, ream

Afar

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maˈre/,
• Hyphenation: ma‧re

Noun

maré f (singulative maréyta m or mareytá f)

1. family, relationship

Declension

Verb

maré

1. (Northern Afar, intransitive) live
2. (Northern Afar, intransitive) continue

Conjugation

Related terms

• mára (“people”)

References

• E. M. Parker, R. J. Hayward (1985) “mare”, in An Afar-English-French dictionary (with Grammatical Notes in English), University of London, →ISBN
• Mohamed Hassan Kamil (2015) L’afar: description grammaticale d’une langue couchitique (Djibouti, Erythrée et Ethiopie)‎, Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis)

Albanian

Alternative forms

• marë, marulë

Etymology

Plurale tantum; plural of variant marë, borrowed through Vulgar Latin from Latin marum (“cat thyme, kind of sage”).

Noun

mare f (definite marja)

1. strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo)
2. strawberry tree fruit

Derived terms

• mareshtë

Aromanian

Adjective

mare

1. Alternative form of mari

Bikol Central

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ma‧re
• IPA^(key): /ˈmaɾe/,

Verb

máre

1. Misspelling of mari.

Catalan

Etymology

From Old Catalan mare, from Latin māter, mātrem, from Proto-Italic *mātēr, from Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr. Compare Occitan maire, French mère, Spanish madre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencian)

• Audio (Valencian)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɾe

Noun

mare f (plural mares)

1. mother

   mare subrogada ― surrogate mother

2. uterus (of an animal)

   Synonym: úter

3. (by analogy) main course of a river or canal; channel
4. (Mallorca, playground games) home

Derived terms

References

• “mare” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “mare”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “mare” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “mare” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Corsican

Alternative forms

• mari

Etymology

From Latin mare.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ma.re/

Noun

mare m

1. sea

Further reading

• “mare” in INFCOR: Banca di dati di a lingua corsa

Danish

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Mare (folklore)

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Old Norse mara.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɑːɑ/

Noun

mare c (singular definite maren, plural indefinite marer)

1. (folklore) a mare (an evil spirit)

Declension

Related terms

• mareridt n

References

• “mare” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch mâre, from Old Dutch māri, from Proto-West Germanic *mārī (“story”).

Noun

mare f (plural maren, diminutive maartje n)

1. (archaic) message, report, story

   Synonyms: bericht, tijding, verslag, verhaal

2. (archaic) rumor

   Synonym: gerucht

Related terms

• vermaren

Etymology 2

Probably from Medieval Latin mara (“standing water”), from Latin mare (“sea”). Related to German Maar.

Noun

mare f (plural maren, diminutive maartje n)

1. depression in non-volcanic stone, compare maar

Etymology 3

From Middle Dutch māre (“incubus”), from Old Dutch *mara, from Proto-West Germanic *marā, from Proto-Germanic *marǭ.

Noun

mare f (plural mares, diminutive maartje n)

1. a nocturnal monster or spirit that torments its victims while they are sleeping
2. nightmare
3. witch

Derived terms

• nachtmare

Etymology 4

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

mare

1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of maren

Anagrams

• arme, rame

French

Etymology

From Middle French mare, from Old French mare, from Old Norse marr (“lake, sea, pool”), from Proto-Germanic *mari (“lake, sea”), from Proto-Indo-European *móri. Doublet of mer inherited from the Indo-European.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maʁ/, /mɑʁ/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

mare f (plural mares)

1. puddle
2. pool

Derived terms

• pavé dans la mare

Further reading

• “mare”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Anagrams

• amer
• arme, armé
• rame, ramé

Indonesian

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin mare (“sea”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: ma‧rê

Noun

marê (first-person possessive mareku, second-person possessive maremu, third-person possessive marenya)

1. (astronomy, planetology) A large, dark plain, which may have the appearance of a sea.

Further reading

• “mare” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.

Istriot

Etymology 1

From Latin mare.

Noun

mare

1. sea
   • 1877, Antonio Ive, Canti popolari istriani: raccolti a Rovigno, volume 5, Ermanno Loescher, page 99:

     Cume li va puleîto in alto mare!

     How they row well on the high seas!

Derived terms

• alto mare

Etymology 2

From Latin māter.

Noun

mare f

1. mother

See also

• mama

Italian

Italian Wikipedia has an article on:

mare

Wikipedia ^it

Alternative forms

• mar (apocopic)

Etymology

From Latin mare, from Proto-Italic *mari, from Proto-Indo-European *móri.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈma.re/

• Audio

  (file)

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -are
• Hyphenation: mà‧re

Noun

mare m (plural mari)

1. sea

Related terms

See also

• oceano (“ocean”)

Further reading

• mare in Collins Italian-English Dictionary
• mare in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams

• Mera, arme, erma, mera, rame, rema

Japanese

Romanization

mare

1. Rōmaji transcription of まれ

Latin

Latin Wikipedia has an article on:

mare

Wikipedia ^la

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈma.re/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈma.re/,

Etymology 1

From Proto-Italic *mari, from Proto-Indo-European *móri.

Noun

mare n (genitive maris); third declension

1. sea
   • c. 270 BCE – c. 201 BCE, Gnaeus Naevius, Bellum Punicum , (fragment in Priscian, Institutiones Grammaticae, 7, De genetivo plurali tertiae declinationis):

     Neptunum regnatorem marum

     Neptune, ruler of the seas

   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 5.1:

     ad onera ac multitudinem iumentorum transportandam paulo latiores quam quibus in reliquis utimur maribus.

     In order to transport cargo and beasts of burden, he had them made a little wider than the ones we use in other seas.

   • 13th c., Roger Bacon, Secretum Secretorum 2.29 (De preparacione carnum viperarum sive serpentum et draconum):

     Et oportet ut alienentur cornute et varie et aspides declines ad albedinem. Et non capiantur ex piscinis vel litoribus fluviorum et aquarum vel marium, vel de petrosis, quoniam in eis sunt quercine, facientes sitim, immo capiantur in loco longinquo ab humorositate.

   • 1921, Joseph Pope, George Monro Grant, Canada's official motto :

     a marī usque ad mare

     from sea to sea

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, “pure” i-stem).

• The ablative singular can be marī or mare.
• The genitive plural form marium, although regularly formed for an i-stem noun, is not attested in the corpus of classical texts. Marum is found only once, in a line from Gnaeus Naevius.
• The 5th/6th-century grammarian Priscian (Institutiones 7) says it is rarely used in the genitive plural, noting Caesar's use of maribus too. Similarly, the 4th-century grammarian Charisius claims it lacks both a genitive plural *marium and a *maribus form (but see the quotation from Julius Caesar above):

  "maria" tamen quamvis dicantur pluraliter, attamen nec "marium" nec "maribus" dicemus
  — although maria can be said in the plural, nevertheless we won't say marium nor maribus (Ars 1.11).

Synonyms

• pontus

Hyponyms

Derived terms

• bimaris
• Hibēricum Mare
• marīnus
• maritimus

Descendants

Etymology 2

Noun

mare

1. ablative singular of mās

References

• mare in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• mare in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers

Anagrams

• mera

Marau

Noun

mare

1. water

References

• The Linguistic Situation in the Islands of Yapen, Kurudu, Nau and Miosnum, New Guinea (1961)

Middle Dutch

Etymology 1

From Old Dutch *māri, from Proto-West Germanic *mārī.

Adjective

mâre

1. famous, famed
2. honoured, prestigious
3. well-known

Inflection

This adjective needs an inflection-table template.

Etymology 2

From Old Dutch māri, from Proto-Germanic *mēriją, related to Etymology 1 above.

Noun

mâre f

1. fame, famousness
2. rumour
3. message

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

• Dutch: maar, mare
• Limburgish: maer

Etymology 3

From Old Dutch *mara, from Proto-West Germanic *marā.

Noun

māre ?

1. mare, nightmare (evil spirit)

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

• Dutch: maar
• Limburgish: maar

Further reading

• “mare (I)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• “mare (IV)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• “mare (V)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “mare (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page I
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “mare (II)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page II
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “mare (III)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page III

Munggui

Noun

mare

1. water

References

• The Linguistic Situation in the Islands of Yapen, Kurudu, Nau and Miosnum, New Guinea (1961)

Neapolitan

Etymology

From Latin mare.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmarə/

Noun

mare ?

1. sea (a vast mass of salty water)

Norman

Alternative forms

• mathe (Jersey)
• mar (Sark)

Etymology

From Old French mare.

Noun

mare f (plural mares)

1. (France, Guernsey) pool

Northern Sotho

Etymology

From Proto-Bantu *màtáì.

Noun

mare

1. saliva

Norwegian Bokmål

Norwegian Bokmål Wikipedia has an article on:

Mare (mytologi)

Wikipedia ^nb

Etymology

From Old Norse mara.

Noun

mare f or m (definite singular mara or maren, indefinite plural marer, definite plural marene)

1. (folklore) a mare (an evil spirit)

Derived terms

• mareritt (“nightmare”)

References

• “mare” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Anagrams

• arme, armé, erma

Norwegian Nynorsk

Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:

mare

Wikipedia ⁿⁿ

Etymology 1

From Old Norse mara f.

Alternative forms

• Mara, mara, maru, muru, murru (dialectal)

Noun

mare f (definite singular mara, indefinite plural marer, definite plural marene)

1. (folklore) a mare (an evil spirit)

Derived terms

• marekors (“pentagram”)
• marekvist (“a witch's broom”)
• mareritt (“nightmare”)
• marespjeld
• (probably derived) innmari

Etymology 2

From Old Norse merja (“to crush”).

Alternative forms

• mara (split or a-infinitive)

Verb

mare (present tense marar, past tense mara, past participle mara, passive infinitive marast, present participle marande, imperative mare/mar)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

References

• “mare” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Anagrams

• arme, armé, erma, rame, rema

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *marā.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɑ.re/

Noun

mare f (nominative plural maran)

1. mare (evil spirit thought to torment people in their sleep)

Declension

Derived terms

• *nihtmare

Descendants

• English: mare

Old French

Alternative forms

• mar

Etymology

From Middle Dutch mare (“phantom, spirit”).

Adjective

mare m (oblique and nominative feminine singular mare)

1. evil; bad

Adverb

mare

1. evilly; badly

Pali

Alternative forms

Verb

mare

1. singular optative active of marati (“to die”)

Papuma

Noun

mare

1. water

References

• The Linguistic Situation in the Islands of Yapen, Kurudu, Nau and Miosnum, New Guinea (1961)

Portuguese

Verb

mare

1. inflection of marar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈma.re/
• Rhymes: -are

• Audio

  (file)

Etymology 1

Most likely inherited from Latin maiōrem, accusative singular of Latin maior, albeit with an unusual (though not impossible) phonological evolution. Compare Aromanian mari, Megleno-Romanian mari, Dalmatian maur, Portuguese mor, Logudorese mere and Campidanese meri. An alternative, less likely theory proposes a derivation from Latin marem (“male”), with a semantic shift from "male" to "large", on an idiomatic basis (i.e. assuming that the expression "s-a făcut mare", meaning " grew up" initially referred exclusively to boys becoming men, and that it shifted over time to refer more broadly to physical growth, and by extension, being large). Other theories include a derivation from its homonym mare (meaning sea), and a substrate origin (either Proto-Albanian or Thracian).

Adjective

mare m or f or n (plural mari)

1. big, large, great

   Antonym: mic

   O mare mare. ― A big sea.

2. great, mighty

   Un om mare. ― A great man.

Inflection

Derived terms

• mări
• mărime
• mărinimos

Related terms

• măreț

Etymology 2

From Latin mare, from Proto-Italic *mari, from Proto-Indo-European *móri.

Noun

mare f (plural mări)

1. sea

   Când am mers la mare, am înotat un pic și mai târziu am prins un pește mare.

   When I went to sea, I swam a little and later caught a big fish.

Declension

Related terms

• marin

References

Sardinian

Alternative forms

• mari (“Campidanese”)

Etymology

From Latin mare. Compare Italian mare.

Noun

mare m (plural mares)

1. sea

Sonsorolese

Noun

mare

1. boy

Tagalog

Alternative forms

• mars

Etymology

Final clipping of kumare, from komadre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmaɾe/,
• Hyphenation: ma‧re

Noun

mare (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜇᜒ)

1. (slang) close female friend; sister

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:kaibigan

   Coordinate terms: brad, pare, tol

   Ano'ng tsika, mare?

   What's the buzz, sister?

See also

References

• “mare”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018
• Zorc, R. David, San Miguel, Rachel (1993) Tagalog Slang Dictionary‎, Manila: De La Salle University Press, →ISBN

Tahitian

Noun

mare

1. (archaic) cough

Usage notes

Use hota.

Ternate

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈma.ɾe/

Noun

mare

1. Alternative form of mari (“stone”)

References

• Frederik Sigismund Alexander de Clercq (1890) Bijdragen tot de kennis der Residentie Ternate, E.J. Brill

Venda

Etymology

From Proto-Bantu *màtáì.

Noun

mare

1. saliva

Venetian

Etymology 1

From Latin mater.

Noun

mare f (invariable)

1. mother

Etymology 2

From Latin mare.

Noun

mare

1. sea

Zazaki

Zazaki Wikipedia has an article on:

zza:mare

Wikipedia ^zza

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic مارا.

Noun

mare m or f

1. marriage