Suir
/sʌir/noun
A Scots form meaning sour, acidic, or sharp-tasting.
Did you know?Suir ultimately belongs to the same ancient Germanic word family as “sour,” preserving a sound and meaning that reach back to prehistoric Indo-European speech.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*sū́ros
“Sour or tart; reconstructed ancestral form”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*sūraz
“Sour, having an acidic taste”
Old English
Old English
sūr
“Sour, acid, or sharp-tasting”
Middle English
Middle English
sour
“Sour or tart; the form that developed into standard English “sour””
Early Modern Scots
Scots
suir
“Sour; a Scots spelling and pronunciation variant”
Modern English usage
Scots English
suir
“Sour or acidic, chiefly in Scots and dialectal usage”
Explore more surprising origins