martyr
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English
Etymology
From Middle English martir, from Old English martyr, itself a borrowing from Ecclesiastical Latin martyr, from Ancient Greek μάρτυρ (mártur), later form of μάρτυς (mártus, “witness”).
Pronunciation
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈmɐːtə(ɹ)/, ,
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈmɑːtə(ɹ)/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈmɑɹ.tɚ/,
- Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)tə(ɹ)
Audio (US) (file) Audio (UK) (file) - Hyphenation: mar‧tyr
Noun
martyr (plural martyrs)
- One who willingly accepts being put to death for adhering openly to one's religious beliefs; notably, saints canonized after martyrdom.
- Saint Stephen was the first Christian martyr.
- (by extension) One who sacrifices their life, station, or something of great personal value, for the sake of principle or to sustain a cause.
- (with a prepositional phrase of cause) One who suffers greatly and/or constantly, even involuntarily.
- Stan is a martyr to arthritis, Chris a martyr to Stan's endless moaning about it.
- 1937, AJ Cronin, The Citadel:
- He'd been a martyr to asthma all his life.
Antonyms
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
one willing to be killed for religion
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one who sacrifices their life for an important cause
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one who suffers greatly, even involuntarily
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Verb
martyr (third-person singular simple present martyrs, present participle martyring, simple past and past participle martyred)
- (transitive) To make someone into a martyr by putting them to death for adhering to, or acting in accordance with, some belief, especially religious; to sacrifice on account of faith or profession.
- (transitive) To persecute.
- Some religious and other minorities were martyred until extinction.
- (transitive) To torment; to torture.
- c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :
- Hark, wretches, how I mean to martyr you.
This one hand yet is left to cut your throats,
Whiles that Lavinia ’tween her stumps doth hold
The basin that receives your guilty blood.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IIII, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. , part II (books IV–VI), London: [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 2, page 94:
- […] The louely Amoret, whoſe gentle hart
Thou martyreſt with ſorow and with ſmart, […]
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
to make someone a martyr
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persecute — see persecute
torture — see torture
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 “martyr”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
Danish
Etymology
From Old Danish martir. Borrowed via Ecclesiastical Latin martyr from Ancient Greek μάρτυς (mártus, “witness”).
Pronunciation
Noun
martyr c (singular definite martyren, plural indefinite martyrer)
Declension
Declension of martyr
| common gender |
Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | |
| nominative | martyr | martyren | martyrer | martyrerne |
| genitive | martyrs | martyrens | martyrers | martyrernes |
References
- “martyr” in Den Danske Ordbog
French
Etymology
Inherited from Old French martire, borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin martyr, from Ancient Greek μάρτυρ (mártur), later form of μάρτυς (mártus, “witness”).
Pronunciation
Noun
martyr m (plural martyrs, feminine martyre)
Related terms
Further reading
- “martyr”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.
Latin
Etymology
From Ancient Greek μάρτυρ (mártur), later form of μάρτυς (mártus, “witness”).
Pronunciation
Noun
martyr m or f (genitive martyris); third declension
- (Ecclesiastical Latin) martyr, especially a Christian martyr
Declension
Third-declension noun.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | martyr | martyrēs |
| Genitive | martyris | martyrum |
| Dative | martyrī | martyribus |
| Accusative | martyrem | martyrēs |
| Ablative | martyre | martyribus |
| Vocative | martyr | martyrēs |
Related terms
Descendants
- → Proto-Brythonic: *merθɨr (see there for further descendants)
- → Danish: martyr
- → Dutch: martelaar
- → Estonian: märter
- → Finnish: marttyyri
- → Old French: martire
- → German: Märtyrer
- → Hungarian: mártír
- → Old Irish: martar
- Old Italian: martore
- → Italian: martire
- Lombard: màrtul
- Neapolitan: marture
- → Norwegian: martyr
- → Old Occitan:
- → Old Galician-Portuguese:
- Romanian: martor
- Sardinian: màrturu
- Sicilian: màrtiri
- → Scottish Gaelic: martair
- → Spanish: mártir
- → Tagalog: martir
- → Swedish: martyr
References
- “martyr”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- martyr in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
Norman
Etymology
From Ecclesiastical Latin martyr, from Ancient Greek μάρτυρ (mártur), later form of μάρτυς (mártus, “witness”).
Noun
martyr m (plural martyrs)
Norwegian Bokmål
Etymology
Borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin martyr, from Ancient Greek μάρτυρ (mártur), later form of μάρτυς (mártus, “witness”).
Noun
martyr m (definite singular martyren, indefinite plural martyrer, definite plural martyrene)
Related terms
References
- “martyr” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology
Borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin martyr, from Ancient Greek μάρτυρ (mártur), later form of μάρτυς (mártus, “witness”).
Noun
martyr m (definite singular martyren, indefinite plural martyrar, definite plural martyrane)
Related terms
References
- “martyr” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Old English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin martyr, from Ancient Greek μάρτυρ (mártur), later form of μάρτυς (mártus, “witness”).
Noun
martyr m
Declension
Declension of martyr (strong a-stem)
Derived terms
References
- Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) “martyr”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Swedish
Etymology
Borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin martyr, from Ancient Greek μάρτυρ (mártur), later form of μάρτυς (mártus, “witness”).
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -yːr
Noun
martyr c
Declension
| Declension of martyr | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |||
| Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
| Nominative | martyr | martyren | martyrer | martyrerna |
| Genitive | martyrs | martyrens | martyrers | martyrernas |