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/
- 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)
- Preceding all others of a series or kind; the ordinal of one; earliest.
- Hancock was first to arrive.
- 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.
- 1784: William Jones, The Description and Use of a New Portable Orrery, &c., PREFACE
- Of or belonging to a first family.
- First Cat; First Daughter; First Dog; First Son
- Coming right after the zeroth in things that use zero-based numbering.
Related terms
- for
- fore
Translations
Adverb
first (not comparable)
- Before anything else; firstly.
- For the first time.
- (Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, nonstandard) Now.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:firstly
Translations
Noun
first (countable and uncountable, plural firsts)
- (uncountable) The person or thing in the first position.
- (uncountable) The first gear of an engine.
- (countable) Something that has never happened before; a new occurrence.
- (countable, baseball) first base
- (countable, Britain, colloquial) A first-class honours degree.
- (countable, colloquial) A first-edition copy of some publication.
- (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)
- (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)
- (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
- virst, vurst, vorst, verst
Etymology
From Old English fyrest, from Proto-West Germanic *furist, from Proto-Germanic *furistaz.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /first/, /furst/, /fɛrst/
Adjective
first
- first
Descendants
- English: first
- Scots: first
- Yola: vursth, vurst, virst, vrist
References
- “first, ord. num. (as adj. & n.).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.