fir

See also: FIR, fir-, and fír

English

A fir tree (Abies balsamea)

Etymology

From Middle English firre, from Old English fyrh, furh (as in furhwudu (“pinewood”), from Proto-West Germanic *furhu, from Proto-Germanic *furhō, *furhijǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *pŕ̥kʷeh₂, from *pérkʷus (“oak”). Possibly conflated during Middle English with Old Norse fýri (as in fýriskógr (“pine-wood”).

Germanic cognates include Dutch vuren, Low German Fuhr, German Föhre (“pine”), Danish fyr). Outside of Germanic, compare Italian (Trentino) porca (“fir”), Latin quercus (“oak”), Albanian shpardh, shparr (“Italian oak”), Punjabi ਪਰਗਾਇ (pargāī, “holm oak, Quercus baloot”)). Related to frith.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /fɜː(ɹ)/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• (US) enPR: fûr, IPA^(key): /fɝ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /fɪɹ/
• Homophones: fur (fern–fir–fur merger); fair, fare (fair–fur merger)
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)

Noun

fir (countable and uncountable, plural firs)

1. (chiefly countable) A conifer of the genus Abies.
   • 1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 1, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC:

     A beech wood with silver firs in it rolled down the face of the hill, and the maze of leafless twigs and dusky spires cut sharp against the soft blueness of the evening sky.

2. (chiefly countable) Any pinaceous conifer of related genera, especially a Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga) or a Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris).
   • 1954, J. R. R. Tolkien, chapter 3, in The Lord of the Rings:

     we shall find a spot that is sheltered and snug enough, sir. There is a dry fir-wood just ahead, if I remember rightly.

   • 1991, Paul Chadwick, Concrete: American Christmas, Dark Horse Books:

     I can almost smell the fir scent… resinous, pungent.

3. (uncountable) Wood of such trees.

Synonyms

• (all countable senses): fir-tree
• (wood): firwood

Derived terms

• Algerian fir (Abies numidica)
• alpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa)
• amabilis fir (Abies amabilis)
• American silver fir (Abies balsamea)
• balsam fir, balsam of fir (Abies balsamea)
• Bhutan fir (Abies densa)
• big-cone Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga macrocarpa))
• bristlecone fir (Abies bracteata)
• Bulgarian fir (Abies borisii-regis)
• Cascade fir (Abies amabilis)
• Caucasian fir (Abies nordmanniana)
• China fir, Chinese fir (Cunninghamia spp.)
• cluster fir (Pinus pinaster)
• Colorado fir (Abies concolor)
• corkbark fir (Abies lasiocarpa)
• cork fir (Abies arizonica)
• Corsican fir (Pinus laricio)
• Danzig fir (Pinus sylvestris)
• Douglas fir, Douglas-fir, Doug fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)
• fir adelgid (Adelges abietis)
• fir clubmoss (Huperzia selago)
• fir-cone
• firleaf beardtongue (Penstemon abietinus)
• firless
• firlike
• fir mistletoe (Phoradendron pauciflorum)
• firmoss (Huperzia spp.)
• firry
• flaky fir (Abies squamata)
• Fraser fir (Abies fraseri)
• giant fir (Abies grandis)
• golden fir (Abies magnifica)
• grand fir (Abies grandis)
• great silver fir (Abies grandis)
• Grecian fir, Greek fir (Abies cephalonica)
• ground fit (Lycopodium obscurum)
• Guatemalan fir (Abies guatemalensis)
• hemlock fir (Tsuga spp.)
• Himalayan fir (Abies spectabilis)
• jointfir, joint fir (Ephedra spp.)
• Korean fir (Abies koreana)
• lovely fir (Abies amabilis)
• lowland fir, lowland white fir (Abies grandis)
• momi fir (Abies firma)
• Moroccan fir (Abies pinsapo var. marocana)
• mountain clubmoss, mountain fir clubmoss (Huperzia appalachiana)
• needle fir (Abies holophylla)
• Nikko fir (Abies homolepis)
• noble fir (Abies procera)
• Nordmann's fir (Abies normanniana)
• Oregon fir (Abies grandis)
• Pacific silver fir (Abies amabilis)
• parasol fir (Sciadopitys verticillata)
• pitch fir (Pinus rigida etc.)
• plum fir (Prumnopitys andina, syn. Podocarpus andinus)
• Prince Albert's fir (Tsuga heterophylla)
• red fir (Abies magnifica)
• red silver fir (Abies amabilis)
• Riga fir (Pinus sylvestris)
• Rocky Nountain fir (Abies lasiocarpa)
• sacred fir (Abies religiosa)
• Santa Lucia fir (Abies bracteata)
• Scotch fir, Scots fir (Pinus sylvestris)
• sea fir (Abietinaria abietina, syn. Sertularia abietina)
• Shasta fir (Abies shastensis)
• Shasta red fir (Abies magnifica)
• Siberian fir (Abies sibirica)
• Sikkim fir (Abies densa)
• silver fir (Abies alba)
• silvertip fir (Abies magnifica)
• sprucefir fleabane (Erigeron eximius)
• spruce fir (Picea abies)
• subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa)
• true fir (Abies spp.)
• Turkish fir (Abies nordmanniana subsp. equi-trojani)
• Vancouver fir (Abies grandis)
• western white fir (Abies grandis)
• white fir (Abies concolor)
• yellow fir

 

Translations

conifer of the genus Abies

• Abkhaz: аԥсагә (apsagʷ)
• Afrikaans: silwerspar
• Albanian: bredh (sq) m
• Alemannic German: Tannu, Dane
• Arabic: شُوح m (šūḥ)
• Aragonese: abet
• Armenian: եղեւին (hy) (eġewin)
• Aromanian: brad m, ehlã f
• Asturian: abetu m
• Atayal: please add this translation if you can
• Azerbaijani: küknar (az)
• Basque: izei
• Belarusian: пі́хта f (píxta), ёлка f (jólka)
• Bulgarian: ела́ f (elá)
• Bunun: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: avet (ca)
• Cheyenne: vé'evêšéstótó'e, vó'komêšéstótó'e
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 冷杉 (zh) (lěngshān); 樅 / 枞 (zh) (cōng) (literary); 樅樹 / 枞树 (zh) (cōngshù)

• Corsican: ghjaddicu, ghjallicu
• Czech: jedle (cs) f
• Danish: ædelgran (da) c
• Dutch: zilverspar (nl) m
• Eastern Mari: нулго (nulgo)
• Esperanto: abio (eo)
• Estonian: nulg (et)
• Even: ӈаӈта (ŋaŋta)
• Evenki: асикта (asikta)
• Faroese: aðalgrann f
• Finnish: pihta (fi), jalokuusi (fi)
• French: sapin (fr) m
• Galician: abeto (gl), pinabete m
• Georgian: სოჭი (ka) (soč̣i)
• German: Tanne (de) f, Tannenbaum (de) m
• Greek: έλατο (el) n (élato), έλατος (el) m (élatos)

  Ancient: ἐλάτη f (elátē)

• Haitian Creole: sapen
• Hebrew: אשוח (he) m (ashúakh)
• Hungarian: jegenyefenyő (hu)
• Icelandic: þinur (is) m
• Ido: abieto (io)
• Interlingua: abiete
• Irish: giúis (ga) f

  Old Irish: giús m

• Italian: abete (it) m
• Japanese: 樅の木 (momi no ki), モミ (momi)
• Kazakh: самырсын (samyrsyn), майқарағай (maiqarağai)
• Khakas: сыбы (sıbı)
• Komi-Zyrian: ньыв (ńyv)
• Korean: 전나무 (ko) (jeonnamu)
• Latin: abiēs f
• Latvian: baltegles
• Lithuanian: kėnis
• Low German: Dann f
• Macedonian: чам (čam), ела f (ela)
• Manchu: ᠵᠠᡴᠰᡠᠨ (jaksun)
• Manx: juys
• Megleno-Romanian: brad m
• Middle Dutch: danne m
• Middle English: firre
• Middle High German: vorhe, tanne
• Middle Irish: ochtach
• Middle Low German: vūre, danne
• Mingrelian: გიგიბი (gigibi)
• Mongolian: жодоо (mn) (žodoo)
• Nahuatl: oyametl (nah)
• Nanai: вангта (waŋta), хасикта (hasikta)
• Norman: sapîn m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: edelgran

  Nynorsk: edelgran

• Occitan: avet (oc)
• Old English: furh, æbs
• Old High German: tanna f
• Old Norse: þinurr
• Old Prussian: adlē
• Old Saxon: furia, danna (also dennia)
• Ossetian: соцъи (soc’i)
• Persian: نراد (fa) (narâd)
• Piedmontese: sapin
• Polish: jodła (pl) f
• Portuguese: abeto (pt) m
• Quechua: awitu
• Romanian: brad (ro) m
• Russian: пи́хта (ru) f (píxta), ель (ru) f (jelʹ), ёлка (ru) f (jólka)
• Saterland Frisian: Danne
• Scottish Gaelic: giuthas m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: јела, је̑лка f

  Roman: jéla (sh) f, jȇlka (sh) f

• Sherpa: tashing
• Slovak: jedľa (sk)
• Slovene: jelka (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: jedła f

  Upper Sorbian: jědla f

• Southern Altai: јойгон (ǰoygon)
• Spanish: abeto (es) m
• Swahili: mberoshi
• Swedish: ädelgran (sv), gran (sv)
• Tagalog: abeto
• Taos: pʼȍkʼúowoną
• Tibetan: སོམ་ཤིང་། (som shing)
• Tofa: чойған (coyġan)
• Turkish: göknar (tr)
• Tuvan: чойган (çoygan)
• Ukrainian: яли́ця (uk) f (jalýcja)
• Venetan: tana
• Vietnamese: linh sam
• Walloon: sapén (wa) m
• Welsh: ffynidwydd f pl
• Yakut: харыйа (qarıya)
• Yiddish: טענענבוים m (tenenboym), יאָדלע f (yodle)

Anagrams

• Fri, IFR, IRF, RFI, RIF, Rif, rif

Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fʲɪɾʲ/

Noun

fir m

1. inflection of fear (“man; husband”):
   1. vocative/genitive singular
   2. nominative/dative plural

Mutation

Mutated forms of fir

radical	lenition	eclipsis
fir	fhir	bhfir

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

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From Old High German furi, from Proto-West Germanic *furi, from Proto-Germanic *furi. Cognate with German für, English for.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fiːʀ/, [ˈfiː.ɐ], [fiə̯]
• IPA^(key): /fe(ʀ)/, [fɐ], [fə] (reduced)
• Homophone: vir

Preposition

fir (+ accusative)

1. for

Derived terms

• fir datt
• fir d'éischt
• fir ze

Manx

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɪr/

Noun

fir

1. plural of fer

Mutation

Manx mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
fir	ir	vir
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Middle English

Noun

fir

1. Alternative form of firre

Northern Kurdish

Alternative forms

• firr

Noun

fir f

1. flight (act of flying)

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

fir

1. imperative of fire

Old Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɸʲirʲ]

Noun

fir

1. inflection of fer:
   1. vocative/genitive singular
   2. nominative plural

Mutation

Mutation of fir

radical	lenition	nasalization
fir	ḟir	fir pronounced with /β(ʲ)-/

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Romanian

Etymology

Inherited from Latin fīlum, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰiH-(s-)lo-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fir/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

fir n (plural fire)

1. thread, string, filament, wire
2. (fir de păr) a hair

Derived terms

• desfira
• înfira
• răsfira

See also

• sârmă f

Scottish Gaelic

Noun

fir m

1. genitive singular of fear
2. nominative plural of fear

Mutation

Mutation of fir

radical	lenition
fir	fhir

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