sir

See also: SIR, Sir, sır, sír, sîr, șir, şîr, and siR

Contents

English

Etymology

From Middle English sir, borrowed from Old French sire (“master, sir, lord”), from Latin senior (“older, elder”), from senex (“old”). Compare sire, signor, seignior, señor.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɜː(ɹ)/
• (General American) enPR: ˈsûr, IPA^(key): /ˈsɝ/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪɹ/
• (Indian English) IPA^(key): /ˈsə(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)

Noun

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!" 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.

   3. to a teacher.

      Here's my report, sir.

3. A respectful term of address to any male, especially if his name or proper title is unknown.

   Excuse me, sir, do you know the way to the art museum?

4. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) (colloquial) Used as an intensifier after yes or no.

   Sir, yes sir.

Coordinate terms

• (address for a military superior officer): ma'am
• (address for a teacher): miss
• (address for stranger): madam, ma'am, miss

Derived terms

Derived terms

• nossuh
• siree
• sirrah

• sirree
• yessuh

Related terms

→

• senate
• senex

• senior
• sire

Translations

man of a higher rank or position

• Bulgarian: господи́н (bg) m (gospodín)
• Dutch: heer (nl) m, meneer (nl) m
• Finnish: herra (fi)
• Galician: señor m
• Greek: Σέρ m (Sér)
• Hungarian: úr (hu)
• Latvian: sers m

• Lithuanian: ponas m
• Polish: pan (pl) m
• Portuguese: senhor (pt) m
• Russian: господи́н (ru) m (gospodín)
• Turkish: efendim (tr)
• Ukrainian: пан m (pan)

address to a military superior

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 蛇 (soe⁴), 阿蛇 (aa³ soe⁴)

• Dutch: meneer (nl) m
• Finnish: herra (fi) (followed by the name of the rank)
• Hebrew: המפקד‎ m (hamfakéd)

• Portuguese: senhor (pt) m
• Romanian: să trăiți (lit. "may you live")
• Russian: (comrade) това́рищ (ru) m (továrišč) (+ military rank, in the Soviet/Russian Army), сэр (ru) m (sɛr) (in translations from English), господи́н (ru) m (gospodín) (+ military rank, in the Russian Army before 1917)
• Turkish: komutanım

address to any male, especially if his name or proper address is unknown

• Albanian: zotëri (sq) m
• Arabic: أُسْتَاذ‎ (ar) m (ʾustāḏ), سَيِّد‎ m (sayyid), سَيِّدِي‎ m (sayyidī), حَضْرَتَك‎ m (ḥaḍratak), أَفَنْدِي‎ m (ʾafandī), بَاشَا‎ m (bāšā)
• Armenian: պարոն (hy) (paron)
• Azerbaijani: cənab (az), ağa (az), efendi (az)
• Baluchi: واجہ‎ (wája)
• Belarusian: спада́р m (spadár), пан m (pan)
• Bengali: জনাব (jônab)
• Bulgarian: господи́н (bg) m (gospodín)
• Burmese: ဦး (my) (u:)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 先生 (zh) (xiānsheng)

  Min Nan: 先生 (zh-min-nan) (sian-siⁿ, sin-seⁿ, sian-seⁿ)

• Czech: pan (cs) m, pán (cs) m
• Danish: herre (da) c
• Dutch: meneer (nl) m, mijnheer (nl) m
• Estonian: härra
• Finnish: herra (fi)
• French: monsieur (fr) m
• Friulian: siôr m, signôr m, missâr m
• Georgian: ბატონო (baṭono)
• German: Herr (de) m, mein Herr m ("my lord")
• Greek: κύριος (el) m (kýrios), κύριε m (vocative)

  Ancient Greek: μακάριε m (makárie) (vocative)

• Haitian Creole: konpè, mesye
• Hebrew: אֲדוֹנִי‎ (adoní)
• Hindi: श्रीमान (hi) m (śrīmān), श्री (hi) (śrī), सर (hi) m (sar), साहिब (hi) m (sāhib), महोदय (hi) m (mahoday), जनाब (hi) m (janāb)
• Hungarian: uram (hu)
• Icelandic: herra (is) m
• Indonesian: tuan (id)
• Italian: signore (it) m
• Japanese: だんな (danna), サー (sā) (in translations from English), だんな様 (だんなさま, danna-sama)
• Kazakh: мырза (kk) (mırza)
• Khmer: ភោ (pʰou)
• Korean: 선생님 (ko) (seonsaengnim), -씨 (ko) (ssi), 아저씨 (ko) (ajeossi)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: کاک‎ (ku) (kak)

• Kyrgyz: господин (ky) (gospodin), мырза (mırza)
• Lao: ທ່ານ (thān), ທ່ານເອີຽ (thān ’œ̄i)
• Latin: dominus (la) m, domine m (vocative)
• Latvian: kungs m
• Lithuanian: ponas m, pone m (vocative)
• Macedonian: го́сподин m (góspodin), госпо́дине m (gospódine) (vocative)
• Malay: tuan
• Maori: tā
• Mongolian: ноён (mn) (nojon)
• Mwali Comorian: bwana
• Ndzwani Comorian: mwenye
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: herre (no) m

• Persian: آقا‎ (fa) (âqâ), جناب‎ (fa) (jenâb)
• Polish: pan (pl) m, panie m (vocative)
• Portuguese: senhor (pt) m
• Romanian: domn (ro) m, (domnule) (vocative)
• Russian: (obsolete) су́дарь (ru) m (súdarʹ), господи́н (ru) m (gospodín), сэр (ru) m (sɛr) (in translations from English)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: господин m

  Roman: gospodin (sh) m

• Slovak: pán m, pane (sk) m (vocative)
• Slovene: gospod (sl) m
• Spanish: señor (es) m
• Swedish: herr (sv) c, herre (sv) c
• Tajik: ҷаноб (tg) (janob), оғо (oġo)
• Turkish: beyefendi (tr), efendi (tr), ağa (tr)
• Turkmen: jenap (tk)
• Ukrainian: пан m (pan)
• Urdu: صاحب‎ m (sāhib), جناب‎ m (janāb), سر‎ (ur) m (sar)
• Uyghur: جاناپ‎ (janap)
• Uzbek: janob (uz), agʻa
• Vietnamese: ngài (vi), ông (vi)
• Yiddish: הער‎ m (her)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Catalan: ^{(please verify)} senyor (ca) m
• French: seigneur (fr) m

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} signore (it) m
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} señor (es) m

Verb

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

1. To address (someone) using "sir".

   Sir, yes, sir!
   Don't you sir me, private! I work for a living!

Coordinate terms

• ma'am, mam

See also

• lord
• (titles) (of a man): Mr (Mister, mister), Sir (sir); (of a woman): Ms (Miz, mizz), Mrs (Mistress, mistress), Miss (miss), Dame (dame), (of a non-binary person): Mx (Mixter); (see also): Dr (Doctor, doctor), Madam (madam, ma'am) ^{(Category: en:Titles)}

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• IRS, ISR, Isr., RIS, RIs, RSI, SRI

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Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

Verb

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

1. seek, search, look for

Synonyms

• lorg

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Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sîr/

Noun

sȉr m (Cyrillic spelling си̏р)

1. cheese

Declension

Declension of sir

	singular	plural
nominative	sȉr	sìrevi
genitive	sira	sireva
dative	siru	sirevima
accusative	sir	sireve
vocative	siru	sirevi
locative	siru	sirevima
instrumental	sirom	sirevima

Derived terms

• sȋrnī

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Slovene

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsír/
• Tonal orthography: sȉr

Noun

sìr m inan (genitive síra, nominative plural síri)

1. cheese

Declension

Declension of sìr (masculine inan., hard o-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	sìr	síra	síri
accusative	sìr	síra	síre
genitive	síra	sírov	sírov
dative	síru	síroma	sírom
locative	síru	sírih	sírih
instrumental	sírom	síroma	síri

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Uzbek

Noun

sir (plural sirlar)

1. secret
2. cheese

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Welsh

Etymology

Borrowed from English shire.

Noun

sir f (plural siroedd)

1. county, shire

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Zay

Etymology

Cognate to Silt'e [script needed] (sa:r).

Noun

sir

1. grass

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Zazaki

garlic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈsiɾ]
• Hyphenation: sir

Etymology

Compare Persian سیر‎ (sir, “garlic”).

Noun

sir m

1. garlic

References

• Initial SLLE Survey of the Zway Area by Klaus Wedekind and Charlotte Wedekind