pair

English Online Dictionary. What means pair‎? What does pair mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: pâr, IPA^(key): /pɛə(ɹ)/
• (General American) enPR: pâr, IPA^(key): /pɛ(ə)ɹ/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /peː/
• Homophones: pare, pear
• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From Middle English paire, from Old French paire, from Latin paria (“equals”), neuter plural of par (“pair”). Related to pār (“equal”, adj). Compare Saterland Frisian Poor (“pair”), West Frisian pear (“pair”), Dutch paar (“pair”), German Paar (“pair”), Italian paio (“pair”)

Noun

pair (plural pairs or (archaic or dialectal) pair)

1. Two similar or identical things taken together; often followed by of.
   1. One of the constituent items that make up a pair.
2. Two people in a relationship, partnership or friendship.

3. Used with binary nouns (often in the plural to indicate multiple instances, since such nouns are plural only, except in some technical contexts)

4. A couple of working animals attached to work together, as by a yoke.

5. (card games) A poker hand that contains two cards of identical rank, which cannot also count as a better hand.
6. (cricket) A score of zero runs (a duck) in both innings of a two-innings match.

   Synonyms: pair of spectacles, spectacles

7. (baseball, informal) A double play, two outs recorded in one play.

8. (baseball, informal) A doubleheader, two games played on the same day between the same teams

9. (rowing) A boat for two sweep rowers.
10. (slang) A pair of breasts

11. (slang) A pair of testicles

12. (Australia, politics) The exclusion of one member of a parliamentary party from a vote, if a member of the other party is absent for important personal reasons.
13. Two members of opposite parties or opinion, as in a parliamentary body, who mutually agree not to vote on a given question, or on issues of a party nature during a specified time.

14. (archaic) A number of things resembling one another, or belonging together; a set.
15. (kinematics) In a mechanism, two elements, or bodies, which are so applied to each other as to mutually constrain relative motion; named in accordance with the motion it permits, as in turning pair, sliding pair, twisting pair.

Usage notes

The usual plural of pair is pairs. This is a recent innovation; the plural pair was formerly predominant and may be found in older texts like "A Key to Joyce's Arithmetic" (compare Middle English paire, plural paire). That is, a native English speaker, back in the early 19th century, would say 20 pair of shoes, as opposed to today's 20 pairs of shoes. In colloquial or dialectal speech, forms such as 20 pair may still be found; because of their relegation to informal speech, they are now sometimes proscribed.

Synonyms

• (two objects in a group): duo, dyad, couple, brace, twosome, duplet; see also Thesaurus:duo
• (pair of breasts): See also Thesaurus:breasts

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Tokelauan: pea

Translations

Verb

pair (third-person singular simple present pairs, present participle pairing, simple past and past participle paired)

1. (transitive) To group into one or more sets of two.
2. (computing) to link two electronic devices wirelessly together, especially through a protocol such as Bluetooth.
3. (transitive) To bring two (animals, notably dogs) together for mating.
4. (intransitive) To come together for mating.
5. (politics, slang) To engage (oneself) with another of opposite opinions not to vote on a particular question or class of questions.
6. (intransitive) To suit; to fit, as a counterpart.

Derived terms

Related terms

• parity

Translations

See also

• couple

Etymology 2

From Middle English pairen, peiren, shortened form of apeiren, empeiren, from Old French empeirier, empoirier, from Late Latin peiōrō.

Verb

pair (third-person singular simple present pairs, present participle pairing, simple past and past participle paired)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To impair, to make worse.
2. (obsolete, intransitive) To become worse, to deteriorate.

Anagrams

• PIRA, RIPA, Ripa, pari-, raip

Catalan

Etymology

Unknown. Compare dialectal Italian padire.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [pəˈi]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [paˈiɾ]
• Rhymes: -i(ɾ)

Verb

pair (first-person singular present paeixo, first-person singular preterite paí, past participle paït)

1. (transitive, intransitive) to digest

   Synonym: digerir

2. (figurative, transitive) to handle, to cope with

   de mal pair ― hard to take

Conjugation

Derived terms

• païble
• païda
• païdor
• païment

Further reading

• “pair” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “pair”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “pair” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “pair” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

Inherited from Latin pār (“equal”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɛʁ/

Adjective

pair (feminine paire, masculine plural pairs, feminine plural paires)

1. (of a number) even

   Antonym: impair

Derived terms

• aller de pair
• fonction paire
• nombre pair

Related terms

• parité

Noun

pair m (plural pairs)

1. a peer, high nobleman/vassal (as in peer of the realm)

Antonyms

• pari m

Derived terms

Further reading

• “pair”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• pari, pria, ripa

Louisiana Creole

Etymology

From French peur (“fear”), compare Haitian Creole pè.

Verb

pair

1. to be afraid

References

• Alcée Fortier, Louisiana Folktales

Middle English

Noun

pair

1. Alternative form of paire

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French pair.

Noun

pair m (plural pairi)

1. peer (noble)

Declension

Romansch

Alternative forms

• pér (Sursilvan, Sutsilvan)
• peir (Surmiran)

Etymology

From Latin pirum.

Noun

pair m (plural pairs)

1. (Rumantsch Grischun, Puter, Vallader) pear

Related terms

• paira
• pairer

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pai̯r/

Etymology 1

From Middle Welsh peir, from Proto-Brythonic *pėr, from Proto-Celtic *kʷaryos. Cognate with Irish coire.

Noun

pair m (plural peiri or peirau)

1. cauldron, boiler
2. furnace

Derived terms

• peiran
• peiriaid

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

pair

1. (literary) third-person singular present indicative/future of peri

Mutation

References

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “pair”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies