first

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

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fɜːst/
• (General American) enPR: fŭrst, IPA^(key): /fɝst/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /fɪrst/, /fʌrst/
• (Local Dublin) IPA^(key): /fʊːɹs/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): [fɚːst], [fəɹst]
• (Early Modern) IPA^(key): /fɪrst/, /fʊrst/
• Hyphenation: first
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)st

Etymology 1

From Middle English first, furst, ferst, fyrst, from Old English fyrest, from Proto-West Germanic *furist, from Proto-Germanic *furistaz (“foremost, first”), superlative of Proto-Germanic *fur, *fura, *furi (“before”), from Proto-Indo-European *per-, *pero- (“forward, beyond, around”), equivalent to fore +‎ -est.

Cognate with North Frisian foarste (“first”), Dutch voorste (“foremost, first”), German Fürst (“chief, prince”, literally “first (born)”), Swedish först (“first”), Norwegian Nynorsk fyrst (“first”), Icelandic fyrstur (“first”).

Other cognates include Sanskrit पूर्व (pūrva, “first”) and Russian первый (pervyj).

Alternative forms

• 1st, Ist; I, I. (in names of monarchs and popes)
• firste (archaic)
• fyrst, fyrste (obsolete)

Adjective

first (not comparable)

1. Preceding all others of a series or kind; the ordinal of one; earliest.

2. Most eminent or exalted; most excellent; chief; highest.
   • 1784: William Jones, The Description and Use of a New Portable Orrery, &c., PREFACE

     THE favourable reception the Orrery has met with from Perſons of the firſt diſtinction, and from Gentlemen and Ladies in general, has induced me to add to it ſeveral new improvements in order to give it a degree of Perfection; and diſtinguiſh it from others; which by Piracy, or Imitation, may be introduced to the Public.
3. Of or belonging to a first family.

   First Cat; First Daughter; First Dog; First Son

4. Coming right after the zeroth in things that use zero-based numbering.

Related terms

• for
• fore

Translations

Adverb

first (not comparable)

1. Before anything else; firstly.
2. For the first time.

3. (Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, nonstandard) Now. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:firstly

Translations

Noun

first (countable and uncountable, plural firsts)

1. (uncountable) The person or thing in the first position.
2. (uncountable) The first gear of an engine.
3. (countable) Something that has never happened before; a new occurrence.
4. (countable, baseball) first base

5. (countable, British, colloquial) A first-class honours degree.
6. (countable, colloquial) A first-edition copy of some publication.
7. (in combination) A fraction whose (integer) denominator ends in the digit 1.

Translations

Verb

first (third-person singular simple present firsts, present participle firsting, simple past and past participle firsted)

1. (rare) To propose (a new motion) in a meeting, which must subsequently be seconded.

Derived terms

See also

• primary
• primus inter pares

Etymology 2

From Middle English first, furst, fyrst, from Old English fyrst, fierst, first (“period, space of time, time, respite, truce”), from Proto-Germanic *frestaz, *fristiz, *frestą (“date, appointed time”), from Proto-Indo-European *pres-, *per- (“forward, forth, over, beyond”). Cognate with North Frisian ferst, frest (“period, time”), German Frist (“period, deadline, term”), Swedish frist (“deadline, respite, reprieve, time-limit”), Icelandic frestur (“period”). See also frist.

Noun

first (plural firsts)

1. (obsolete) Time; time granted; respite.

References

• “first”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• FTIRs, SIRTF, frist, frits, rifts

Middle English

Alternative forms

• ferst, furst, fyrst
• frist, frust, frost, frest (metathetic)
• virst, vurst, vorst, verst (Southern)

Etymology

From Old English fyrest, from Proto-West Germanic *furist, from Proto-Germanic *furistaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /first/, /furst/, /fɛrst/

Adjective

first

1. first

Descendants

• English: first
• Scots: first, furst
• Yola: vursth, vurst, virst, vrist

References

• “first, ord. num. (as adj. & n.).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Old English

Noun

first m

1. Alternative form of fierst

Scots

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English first, from Old English fyrest, from Proto-West Germanic *furist, from Proto-Germanic *furistaz.

Adjective

first

1. first

References

• “first, a.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 21 May 2024, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.
• “first, adj.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 21 May 2024, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.