If he—er—disappears—well, it seems to me that we'd both benefit.
2019 December 10, Yacht Club Games, "Story" (Mona), in Shovel Knight Showdown (version 4.1), Nintendo Switch:
Verb
er (third-person singular simple presenters, present participleerring, simple past and past participleerred)
(informal) To utter the word "er" when hesitating in speech, found in the phrase um and er.
He ummed and erred his way through the presentation.
See also
ah
uh
um
Anagrams
're, RE, Re, Ré, r.e., re, re-
Afrikaans
Noun
er (pluralerreorers, diminutiveerretjie)
The name of the Latin-script letter R.
Alemannic German
Etymology
From Old High Germaner, from Proto-Germanic*iz. Cognate with Germaner.
Pronoun
erm
(personal) he; it
Declension
Breton
Contraction
er
Contraction of e ur(“in a(n)”).
Contraction of e ar(“in the”).
Cimbrian
Alternative forms
èar (Sette Comuni)
Etymology
From Middle High Germanër, from Old High Germaner, from Proto-West Germanic*iʀ(“he, it”), from Proto-Germanic*iz(“he, she, it, they”). Cognate with Germaner.
Pronoun
er
(Luserna) he, it
Inflection
References
“er” in Cimbrian, Ladin, Mòcheno: Getting to know 3 peoples. 2015. Servizio minoranze linguistiche locali della Provincia autonoma di Trento, Trento, Italy.
Cornish
Pronunciation
IPA(key): [eːɹ]
Etymology 1
From Proto-Celtic*eriros(“eagle”) (compare Bretonerer, Welsheryr, Old Irish*irar), from Proto-Indo-European*h₃érō(“large bird”).
Noun
erm (pluraleryonoreres)
eagle
Etymology 2
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Noun
erm (pluralerys)
heir
Etymology 3
See the etymology of the main entry.
Noun
er
Soft mutation of ger.
Crimean Tatar
Adjective
er
every
Czech
Pronunciation
IPA(key): [ˈɛr]
Noun
ern
The name of the Latin-script letter R.
Further reading
er in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
er in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989
Danish
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ɛr/, [æɐ̯], but often elided in spontaneous speech.
Verb
er
present of være
Dutch
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ɛr/, /ər/, /dər/
Etymology 1
Weak form of der, the unstressed form of daar ("there")
Adverb
er
there (unspecific to distance)
(with a preposition) him, her, it, them.
Ik heb ermee gewerkt.
I have worked with it/them.
Je kunt er de bergen boven zien.
You can see the mountains above it/them.
Usage notes
Er is an unstressed variety of hier and daar, used when it is not needed to emphasize the specific location relative to the speaker.
With a preposition, er is used instead of hem, haar, het, ze to create a pronominal adverb. See also Category:Dutch pronominal adverbs.
Etymology 2
From Old Dutchiro, genitive of the personal pronoun (3rd person plural).
Adverb
er
(partitive pronoun) of them, of those (often not translated in English)
Mijn broer heeft drie kinderen en ik heb er twee.
My brother has three children and I have two. (literally: two of those)
Ik zie er geen meer.
I don't see any more (of them).
Synonyms
ervan
Derived terms
See Category:Dutch pronominal adverbs
Related terms
daar
hier
waar
See also
er zijn
Anagrams
re
East Damar
Noun
er
water
References
Taber, M. (1993). Toward a better understanding of the indigenous languages of southwestern Maluku. Oceanic Linguistics. 32:2. pp. 389-441. Cited in: "East Damar" in Greenhill, S.J., Blust, R., & Gray, R.D. (2008). The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics. Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4:271-283.
Faroese
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /eːɹ/
Verb
er
third-person singular indicative present of at vera
Conjugation
German
Etymology
From Middle High Germaner, from Old High Germaner, from Proto-Germanic*iz. In northern Old High German there also existed forms with initial h-, namely hē, her, from Proto-Germanic *hiz, whence Central Franconianhä and (from the accusative) Luxembourgishhien. Compare English he. The unusual spelling ih- in the forms ihm, ihn is not related to this. It was introduced in early modern German to distinguish these forms from im, in (when *iem, *ien would not have been acceptable because they would have been read as *jem, *jen).
Pronunciation
(standard) IPA(key): /ʔeːɐ̯/, /ʔɛʁ/
Rhymes: -eːɐ̯
Homophone: Ehr
(colloquially in unstressed position) IPA(key): /ɐ/
Pronoun
er
(personal) he.
(personal) it (when the grammatical gender of the object/article/thing/animal etc., being referred to, is masculine (der)).
(personal, archaic)Alternative spelling of Er(you (polite))
(Can we date this quote?), Clemens Brentano, Geschichte vom braven Kasperl und dem schönen Annerl (edited). In: 1835, F. W. Gubitz (editor), Jahrbuch des Nützlichen und Unterhaltenden für 1835, p. 171:
Da fuhr die Alte überraſcht auf und ſprach: Lieber Herr, gehe er doch nach Haus und bete er fein und lege er ſich ſchlafen.
Inflection
1Often capitalized, especially in letters
In contemporary German, the genitive forms of personal pronouns are restricted to formal style and are infrequent even then. They may be used
for the genitive object still found in a handful of verbs: Ich erbarmte mich seiner. – "I had mercy on him". (Colloquially one would either use the dative case, or a prepositional object, or replace the verb with another.)
after the preposition statt ("instead of, in place of"): Ich kam statt seiner in die Mannschaft. – I joined the team in his place. (This sounds antiquated, for which reason an seiner Statt or an seiner Stelle is preferable.)
Further reading
“er” in Duden online
“er” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.
Hunsrik
Alternative forms
ëyer (Wiesemann spelling system)
Etymology
From Old High Germaner, from Proto-Germanic*iz. Displaced the northern Old High German forms with h-, e.g. hē, her (see he).
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ˈɛɐ/
Pronoun
er
he
Inflection
Further reading
Online Hunsrik Dictionary
Icelandic
Verb
er
first-person singular indicative present of vera
Éger skemmtilegur.
I am fun (masculine)
Hver erég?
Who am I?
third-person singular indicative present of vera
Veit einhver hvar pabbi minn er?
Does anybody know where my dad is?
Hver erhann?
Who is he?
Pronoun
er
(relative) which
Maðurer sá, er Jón heitir.
There is a man who is named John.
Konan, erhannvar að tala við.
The woman to whom he was talking.
Þetta er borgin, erhann kom frá.
This is the city from which he originated.
Bærinn, er hún ætlar til.
The town to which she's heading.
(archaic) in relations with a demonstrative pronoun (this, that, these) or personal pronoun (I, we, they), which represents the genitive of a relative pronoun.
Það er sú bók, ermenn þekkja eigi höfund hennar.
There is a book whose author people don't know.
Conjunction
er
(with an "indexical"; ábendingarorð) of a place, of a time
Judges 2:19
En er dómarinn andaðist, breyttu þeir að nýju verr en feður þeirra, með því að elta aðra guði til þess að þjóna þeim og falla fram fyrir þeim. Þeir létu eigi af gjörðum sínum né þrjóskubreytni sinni.
But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.
Þar er ég kom.
There whence I came.
Þá er myndin var búin.
When the movie was finished.
Derived terms
þá er þegar
References
er in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Kembra
Noun
er
water
Latin
Etymology 1
From Proto-Italic*hēr, from Proto-Indo-European*ǵʰḗr(“hedgehog”) (whence also Ancient Greekχήρ(khḗr, “hedgehog”)), a root noun from *ǵʰer-(“to be excited, be bristly”), whence also Ancient Greekχοῖρος(khoîros, “young pig”) and Albanianderr(“pig”) from *ǵʰór-yos.
Pronunciation
(Classical) IPA(key): /eːr/
(Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /er/, [ɛr]
Noun
ērm (genitiveēris); third declension
hedgehog
Usage notes
There is some uncertainty as to the exact forms of this word, especially regarding whether the lemma form of this was ēr or ēris, as the forms attested in literature could point to either option. Another form, irim (acc. sing.; found in Plautus, Capt. 184), seems to be a spelling variant.
Declension
Third-declension noun.
Related terms
ēricius(“hedgehog; picket”)
Etymology 2
Pronunciation
(Classical) IPA(key): /er/, [ɛr]
(Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /er/, [ɛr]
Noun
erf (indeclinable)
The name of the letter R.
Usage notes
Multiple Latin names for the letter R, r have been suggested. The most common is er or a syllabic r, although there is some evidence which also supports, as names for the letter, rē, rrr, ər, rə, and even (in the fourth- or fifth-century first Antinoë papyrus, which gives Greek transliterations of the Latin names of the Roman alphabet’s letters) ιρρε(irrhe).
Coordinate terms
(Latin-script letter names)littera; ā, bē, cē, dē, ē, ef, gē, hā, ī, kā, el, em, en, ō, pē, kū, er, es, tē, ū, ix / īx / ex, ȳ / ī graeca / ȳpsīlon, zēta
References
ēr in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
ēr in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
Arthur E. Gordon, The Letter Names of the Latin Alphabet (University of California Press, 1973; volume 9 of University of California Publications: Classical Studies), especially pages 30–31, 42–44, and 63
Latvian
Pronunciation
IPA(key): [ɛɾ]
Noun
erm (invariable)
The Latvian name of the Latin script letter R/r.
See also
Latvian letter names:
a (A), garais ā (Ā), bē (B), cē (C), čē (Č), dē (D), e (E), garais ē (Ē), ef (F), gā (G), ģē (Ģ), hā (H), i (I), garais ī (Ī), jē (J), kā (K), ķē (Ķ), el (L), eļ (Ļ), em (M), en (N), eņ (Ņ), o (O), pē (P), er (R), es (S), eš (Š), tē (T), u (U), garais ū (Ū), vē (V), zē (Z), žē (Ž)
Low German
Pronoun
er
Alternative spelling of ehr
Mambae
Noun
er
water
References
Mambai Language Manual: Ainaro Dialect (2001)
Mandarin
Romanization
er
Nonstandard spelling of ér.
Nonstandard spelling of ěr.
Nonstandard spelling of èr.
Usage notes
English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.
Manx
Etymology
From Old Irishfor.
Preposition
er
on
onto
during
for
Inflection
Pronoun
er
third-person singular of er
on him/it
Derived terms
ersyn(emphatic)
Middle Dutch
Adverb
er
unstressed form of dāer
Middle English
Etymology 1
Determiner
er
Alternative form of hire
Pronoun
er
Alternative form of hire
References
“hir, (pron.1)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 10 May 2018.
Etymology 2
Pronoun
er
Alternative form of hire
References
“hir(e), pron (2)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 10 June 2018.
Etymology 3
From Old Englishēar.
Noun
er
Alternative form of eere(“ear of grain”)
Etymology 4
Determiner
er
Alternative form of here(“their”)
References
“her(e (pron.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 12 June 2018.
Etymology 5
From Old Englishǣr.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ɛːr/
Adverb
er
early
earlier
formerly
rather
References
“ēr adv.” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Mòcheno
Etymology
From Middle High Germanër, from Old High Germaner, from Proto-West Germanic*iʀ(“he, it”), from Proto-Germanic*iz(“he, she, it, they”). Cognate with Germaner.
Pronoun
er
he, it
Inflection
References
“er” in Cimbrian, Ladin, Mòcheno: Getting to know 3 peoples. 2015. Servizio minoranze linguistiche locali della Provincia autonoma di Trento, Trento, Italy.
Norwegian Bokmål
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /æːɾ/, /æɾ/
Verb
er
present of være (=to be)
Norwegian Nynorsk
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /æː(r)/, /eː(r)/ (example of pronunciation)
Verb
er
present tense ofveraandvere
is, are, am (present of to be)
References
“vera” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
“er på engelsk”, in DinOrdbok, Nynorsk-engelsk oversettelse[2], accessed 2018-10-15
Old Dutch
Etymology
From Proto-West Germanic*airi, from Proto-Germanic*airiz.
Preposition
ēr
before, earlier than
Descendants
Middle Dutch: êer
Dutch: eer
Limburgish: ieër
Further reading
“ēr (II)”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012
Conjunction
ēr
ere, afore
Descendants
Middle Dutch: êer
Dutch: eer
Limburgish: ieër
Further reading
“ēr (III)”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012
Adverb
ēr
previously, in an earlier period, in a bygone time
earlier, before a certain time or period
Descendants
Middle Dutch: êer
Further reading
“ēr (I)”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012
Old Frisian
Etymology 1
From Proto-West Germanic*airi, from Proto-Germanic*airiz. Cognates include Old Englishǣr, Old Saxonēr and Old Dutchēr.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ˈeːr/, [ˈɛːr]
Adverb
ēr
earlier, previously
Preposition
ēr (+ dative)
(of time) before
Descendants
Saterland Frisian: eer
West Frisian: ear't
Etymology 2
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ˈeːr/, [ˈɛːr]
Noun
ērf
Alternative form of ēre
References
Bremmer, Rolf H. (2009) An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN
Old High German
Etymology 1
From Proto-West Germanic*airi, from Proto-Germanic*airiz, whence also Old Englishær.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /eːr/
Adjective
ēr
early
Adverb
ēr
ere, before
formerly
Conjunction
ēr
before, until
Preposition
ēr (+ dative)
before
Etymology 2
From Proto-Germanic*aiz, akin to Old Englishār, Old Norseeir.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /eːr/
Noun
ērn
ore
brass
Descendants
Middle High German: er
Alemannic German: Eer
⇒ Alemannic German: eerig
⇒ Old High German: ērīn
Middle High German: ērīn
German: ehern
Etymology 3
From Proto-Germanic*iz(“he”), akin to Gothic𐌹𐍃(is, “he”), Latinis(“he”).
Alternative forms
her
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /er/
Pronoun
er
he
Inflection
Descendants
Middle High German: ër
Alemannic German:
High Alemannic: er, är
Bernese: är
Lucerne: aer
Northeastern: ar
Walser: är
Low Alemannic:
Alsatian: ar, er, ër
Badisch: er
Swabian: er, ear
Swabian Jura: ear
Bavarian: er
Cimbrian: èar, er, ar
Mòcheno: er
Central Franconian:
Hunsrik: er, ëyer
Moselle Franconian: er
East Central German:
High Prussian: er
Lusatian: ar
South Marchian:
Berlinerisch: ea
Silesian German:
Lower Silesian German: a
North Moravian: ar
Upper Silesian German: a
Thuringian: er
Central Thuringian: er
West Thuringian: aa
Upper Saxon: är
Erzgebirgisch: aorr
Meißnisch: är
Osterländisch: är
German: er
East Franconian: er, ea
Main Franconian: ar
South Franconian: er
Rhine Franconian:
Upper Hessian: er
Lorraine Franconian: ér, éa
Palatine German: er
Pennsylvania German: er
Yiddish: ער (er)
References
Joseph Wright, An Old High German Primer
Old Norse
Alternative forms
es, -s
Etymology
From Old Norsees. The final -s was replaced by -r due to analogy to the plural forms of vera.
Pronoun
er
who, which, that
verse 76 of the Hávamál (1996 translation by Carolyne Larrington)
Conjunction
er
where
when
Verb
er
third-person singular indicative present of vera
Descendants
Faroese: er
Icelandic: er
Westrobothnian: -es
References
er in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Old Saxon
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ɛːr/
Etymology 1
From Proto-Germanic*airiz, whence also Old Englishær.
Adjective
ēr
early
Declension
Adverb
ēr
before, ere
formerly
Conjunction
ēr
before
Preposition
ēr (+ dative)
before
Etymology 2
From Proto-Germanic*aiz, whence also Old Englishār.
Noun
ēr?
copper, bronze
ore
Descendants
Middle Low German: ēr
Etymology 3
From Proto-Germanic*airuz. Cognate with Old Englishār, Old Norseárr, Gothic𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌿𐍃(airus).
Noun
ērm
messenger, herald
Pennsylvania German
Etymology
Compare Germaner.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ɛɐ̯/
Pronoun
er
he
Declension
Polish
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ɛr/
Noun
erf
genitive plural of era
Saterland Frisian
Etymology
From Old Frisian-er, from Proto-West Germanic*iʀ. Cognates include West Frisianer and Germaner.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ər/
Pronoun
er
unstressed form of hie(“he”)
See also
References
“er” in Saterfriesisches Wörterbuch
Scots
Verb
er
(South Scots) Second-person simple present form of ti be
(South Scots) Plural simple present form of ti be
(South Scots) First-person singular simple present form of an obscure form of ti be
A'm er so!
Usage notes
Used emphatically. See ir.
Swedish
Etymology
Contraction of earlier eder, from Old Norseyðr, from Proto-Germanic*izwiz, dative/accusative of *jūz, from Proto-Indo-European*yū́.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /eːr/
Pronoun
erc (neuter possessive onlyert, pluralera)
you (plural, object)
(possessive) your, yours; (speaking to more than one person, about one object)
Synonym:eran(informal)
(reflexive)reflexive of ni; compare yourselves
Usage notes
See ni for a note on its use as a courteous 2nd person singular.
Even though er (2) and its archaic form eder is the possessive pronoun, it does have a genitive form ers and eders, which is only used in expressions like ers majestät (your majesty) and ers höghet (your highness).
Declension
Anagrams
-re, re-
Turkish
Etymology 1
From Old Turkicer (er), from Proto-Turkic*ẹ̄r(“early”).
Adjective
er
(regionalism) early
Etymology 2
From Old Turkicer (er), from Proto-Turkic*ēr(“man”). Related to noun-forming suffix -er.
Noun
er (definite accusativeeri, pluralerler)
brave
man, male
noble
conscript, private (soldier of the lowest rank of the army)
tribesman
warrior
Declension
Etymology 3
Verb
er
second-person singular imperative of ermek
Welsh
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ɛr/
Etymology 1
Conjunction
er
although
Derived terms
er mwyn(“for the sake of; in order to”)
er gwaethaf(“despite”)
ers(“since”)
Etymology 2
Noun
erf (pluraleriau)
The name of the Latin-script letter R.
Mutation
See also
(Latin-script letter names) llythyren; a, bi, ec, èch, di, èdd, e, èf, èff, èg, eng, aetsh, i/i dot, je, ce, el, èll, em, en, o, pi, ffi, ciw, er, rhi, ès, ti, èth, u/u bedol, fi, w, ecs, y, sèd(Category: cy:Latin letter names)
West Frisian
Pronoun
er
clitic form of hy used before the object or after the verb.