☼ Concept Map

''sirrah'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

↩ 🔳 🔳 🔳

Primary

⁀➴

''sirrah'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260611130856-00-⌔

sirrah - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

sirrah (plural sirrahs)

  • (obsolete) A term of address to an inferior male or more commonly a child. A modern-day equivalent would be “little man”. [from c. 1520-1530]
    • ✤ Kemp. Yea marry, let them come before mee, what is your name, friend?/Bor. Borachio./Kem. Pray write downe Borachio. Yours ſirra./Con. I am a Gentleman ſir, and my name is Conrade.1
    • ✤ VVhat ſay you to a leg of Beef novv, ſirha?2

Etymology

An extended form of sir; the source of the final vowel is unclear.3 See also siree.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA: /ˈsɪɹə/
  • Rhymes: -ɪɹə
  • Hyphenation: sir‧rah

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], page 116, column 2: ↩

  2. c. 1613 (first performance), John Fletcher, “The Tragedie of Bonduca”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act II, scene iii, page 54, column 1: ↩

  3. “sirrah, n.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present, reproduced from Stuart Berg Flexner, editor in chief, Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: Random House, 1993, →ISBN. ↩

Link to original

Secondary

• • •