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''ere'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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Primary

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''ere'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260331180822-00-⌔

ere - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Adverb

ere (not comparable)

  • (obsolete) At an earlier time. [10th–17th c.]
    • ✤ Thys is he of whome I ſpake/he that cõmeth after me/was befoꝛe me be cauſe he was yer thẽ I.1

Preposition

ere

  • (poetic, archaic) Before; sooner than.
    • ✤ My ſelfe was ſtirring ere the breake of day, […]2
    • ✤ The hill-tops rejoicing will ere long be at their ruddiest, and blush Good-night.3

Conjunction

ere

  • (poetic, archaic) before.
    • ✤ Syꝛ, come downe ere my child die.4

Noun

ere (plural eres)

  • Obsolete form of ear.
    • ✤ As plesaunt to the ere as the blacke sanctus Of a sad sorte vpon a mery pyn.5

Etymology 1

From Middle English er, from Old English ǣr (adverb, conjunction, and preposition), from Proto-West Germanic ﹡airi, from Proto-Germanic ﹡airiz, comparative of Proto-Germanic ﹡airi (“early”), from Proto-Indo-European ﹡h₂éyeri (“day, morning”) (compare Avestan 𐬀𐬫𐬀𐬭 (ayar, “day”), Gk. ἠέριος (ēérios, “at daybreak”), see also era, Albanian herët (“early in the morning, at daybreak”)). The adverb erstwhile retains the Old English superlative ǣrest (“earliest”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian eer (“before”), Dutch eer (“before, sooner than”), German ehe (“before”).

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ɛə/, /ɛː/
  • (General American) IPA: /ɛɚ/
  • (Australian) IPA: /eː/
  • (New Zealand, without the cheer–chair merger) IPA: /eə/
  • (New Zealand, cheer–chair merger) IPA: /iə/
  • (Scotland) IPA: /eɹ/
  • (Lancashire, fair–fur merger) IPA: /ɜː(ɹ)/
  • Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
  • Homophones: air, Ayr, eyre, heir, are (“unit of measurement”), e’er (US); ear (cheer–chair merger); err (fair–fur merger)

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɪə(ɹ)/

Etymology 3

Formed from is + there + a/an.

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /eːɹə/

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, John j:[30], folio cxix, verso: ↩

  2. 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC, signature I3, verso: ↩

  3. 1837, Thomas Carlyle, “Old-Dragoon Drouet”, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume II (The Constitution), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book IV (Varennes), page 173: ↩

  4. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 4:49, column 1: ↩

  5. 1533, R. Saltwood,: ↩

Link to original

Secondary

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