fir

From Middle English firre, from Old English fyrh, furh (as in furhwudu (“pinewood”),^[1] 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”).^[2]

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.

• (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)

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.

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

• Fri, IFR, IRF, RFI, RIF, Rif, rif

• IPA^(key): /fʲɪɾʲ/^[1][2]

fir m

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

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
fir	fhir	bhfir
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

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

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

fir (+ accusative)

1. for

• fir datt
• fir d'éischt
• fir ze

• IPA^(key): /fɪr/

fir

1. plural of fer

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.

fir

1. Alternative form of firre

• firr

fir f

1. flight (act of flying)

fir

1. imperative of fire

• IPA^(key): [ɸʲirʲ]

fir

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

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
fir	ḟir	fir pronounced with /β(ʲ)-/
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

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

• IPA^(key): /fir/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

fir n (plural fire)

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

• desfira
• înfira
• răsfira

• sârmă f

fir m

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

Scottish Gaelic mutation
Radical	Lenition
fir	fhir
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.