sir

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English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Etymology

From Middle English sir, unstressed form of sire, borrowed from Old French sire (master, sir, lord), from Latin senior (older, elder), from senex (old). Doublet of seigneur, seignior, senhor, senior, señor, senyor, signore, and sire.

Pronunciation

Noun

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

sir (plural sirs)

  1. A man of a higher rank or position.
  2. A respectful term of address to a man of higher rank or position, particularly:
    • 1991 May 12, “Kidnapped!”, in Jeeves and Wooster, Series 2, Episode 5:
      Jeeves: Foreign travel often liberates emotions best kept in check, sir. The air of North America is notoriously stimulating in this regard, as witness the regrettable behavior of its inhabitants in 1776.
      B. Wooster: Hm? What happened in 1776, Jeeves?
      Jeeves: I prefer not to dwell on it, if it's convenient to you, sir.
    1. to a knight or other low member of the peerage.
      Just be careful. He gets whingy now if you don't address him as Sir John.
    2. to a superior military officer.
      Sir, yes sir.
      Coordinate term: ma'am
    3. to a teacher.
      Here's my report, sir.
      Coordinate term: miss
  3. A respectful term of address to an adult male (often older), especially if his name or proper title is unknown.
    Excuse me, sir, do you know the way to the art museum?
    Coordinate terms: madam, ma'am, miss

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

sir (third-person singular simple present sirs, present participle sirring, simple past and past participle sirred)

  1. (transitive, informal) To address another individual using "sir".
    Coordinate terms: ma'am, mam
    Sir, yes, sir! —Don't you sir me, private! I work for a living!

Translations

See also

Further reading

Anagrams

Ainu

Pronunciation

Noun

sir (Kana spelling シㇼ)

  1. appearance
  2. earth
  3. land, mountain

Chinese

Etymology 1

From English sir.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

sir (Cantonese)

  1. an honorific to a man senior than oneself, especially a teacher or a police officer
    sirsir [Cantonese]  ―  can4-2 soe4   ―  Mr. Chan

Etymology 2

Romanisation of (soe4), influenced by spelling of English sir. Not related to English sir semantically.

Pronunciation

Verb

sir (Cantonese)

  1. Nonstandard form of (soe4).

Irish

Pronunciation

Verb

sir (present analytic sireann, future analytic sirfidh, verbal noun sireadh, past participle sirthe)

  1. (literary) travel through, traverse
  2. (literary) seek out, have recourse to
  3. (literary) seek, ask for
    An té a shireas ní ar neach.Whoever asks someone for something.
  4. (literary) beseech, implore
    Sirim an tAthair.I beseech the Father.

Conjugation

Middle English

Noun

sir

  1. Alternative form of sire

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English sir.

Noun

sir m (uncountable)

  1. sir

Declension

singular only indefinite definite
nominative-accusative sir sirul
genitive-dative sir sirului
vocative sirule

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish sirid (to traverse, seek). Cognate with Manx shirr.

Verb

sir (past shir, future siridh, verbal noun sireadh, past participle sirte)

  1. seek, search, look for
    Synonym: lorg

Mutation

Mutation of sir
radical lenition
sir shir
after "an", t-sir

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Scottish Gaelic.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *syrъ, derived from "sour milk".

Pronunciation

Noun

sȉr m (Cyrillic spelling си̏р)

  1. cheese

Declension

Derived terms

Slovene

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *syrъ, derived from "sour milk".

Pronunciation

Noun

sȉr m inan

  1. cheese

Inflection

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.
Masculine inan., hard o-stem
nom. sing. sìr
gen. sing. síra
singular dual plural
nominative
(imenovȃlnik)
sìr síra síri
genitive
(rodȋlnik)
síra sírov sírov
dative
(dajȃlnik)
síru síroma sírom
accusative
(tožȋlnik)
sìr síra síre
locative
(mẹ̑stnik)
síru sírih sírih
instrumental
(orọ̑dnik)
sírom síroma síri

Derived terms

Further reading

  • sir”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2024

Uzbek

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Russian сыр (syr).

Noun

sir (plural sirlar)

  1. cheese
Declension
Synonyms

pishloq

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Arabic سِرّ (sirr).

Noun

sir (plural sirlar)

  1. secret
Declension

Welsh

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle English shire.[1]

Pronunciation

Noun

sir f (plural siroedd, not mutable)

  1. county, shire
    Synonym: swydd

Derived terms

  • sirol (relating to a county)

References

  1. ^ R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “sir”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

Zay

Etymology

Cognate to Silt'e (sa:r).

Noun

sir

  1. grass

References

  • Initial SLLE Survey of the Zway Area by Klaus Wedekind and Charlotte Wedekind, SIL International 2002, p. 6 (sil.org)

Zazaki

garlic

Etymology

Compare Persian سیر (sir, garlic).

Pronunciation

Noun

sir

  1. garlic