cite

See also: cité, citë, and cítě

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: sīt, IPA^(key): /saɪt/

  • Audio (RP)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪt
• Homophones: sight, site

Etymology 1

From Old French citer, from Latin citare (“to cause to move, excite, summon”), frequentative of ciēre (“to rouse, excite, call”).

Verb

cite (third-person singular simple present cites, present participle citing, simple past and past participle cited)

1. to quote; to repeat, as a passage from a book, or the words of another.
   • 2013 June 7, Gary Younge, “Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 18:

     WikiLeaks did not cause these uprisings but it certainly informed them. The dispatches revealed details of corruption and kleptocracy that many Tunisians suspected, but could not prove, and would cite as they took to the streets.

2. to list the source(s) from which one took information, words or literary or verbal context.
3. to summon officially or authoritatively to appear in court.

Usage notes

Loosely, or for brevity in journalism, the word is used to mean no more than "mention". [an extension of sense 1]

Derived terms

• cital

Related terms

• citation

Translations

quote — see quote

See also

• attest
• quote

Etymology 2

From the first syllable of citation. Analogous to quote, from quotation.

Noun

cite (plural cites)

1. (informal) a citation

   We used the number of cites as a rough measure of the significance of each published paper.

Translations

citation — see citation

Further reading

• cite in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• cite in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• cite at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• -etic, CETI, EITC, Tice, etic, tice

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Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈt͡sɪtɛ]

Noun

cite

1. vocative singular of cit

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sit/

• Audio

  (file)

• Homophones: citent, cites, scythe, Scythe, scythes, Scythes, site, sites

Verb

cite

1. inflection of citer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

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Latin

Participle

cite

1. vocative masculine singular of citus

References

• “cite”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• cite in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• cete, cetee, cetie, cety, citee, citie, citty, city, cyte, cyty, sete, scite, site, syte, syty

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French cité, citet, from Latin civitās.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siˈteː/, /ˈsiteː/

Noun

cite (plural cites)

1. A city (settlement larger than a town)

   Coordinate term: toun

   • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎^[1], published c. 1410, Luke 8:1, page 32r, column 1; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

     And it was doon aftirward · ⁊ [iheſus] made iourneis bi citees ⁊ caſtelis, [pꝛe]ch[in]ge ⁊ euangelizynge þe rewme of god / ⁊ twelue wiþ h[im] ·

     After that happened, Jesus made visits to cities and fortresses, preaching about and disseminating the kingdom of God with the Twelve alongside him.

2. (religion) A stronghold or fortress.
3. (rare) The people of a city.

Descendants

• English: city (see there for further descendants)
• Scots: ceety

References

• “citẹ̄, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

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Portuguese

Verb

cite

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

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Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /ˈθite/ [ˈθi.t̪e]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America) /ˈsite/ [ˈsi.t̪e]
• Rhymes: -ite
• Syllabification: ci‧te

Verb

cite

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