mear

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /mɪə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /mɪ(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)
• Homophone: mere

mear (plural mears)

1. Alternative form of mere (“boundary”).
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     So huge a mind could not in lesser rest,
     Ne in small mears contain his glory great

• mere

• “mear”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• mera, Amer., rame, Erma, Maré, Maer, Mera, Ream, amer., Arem, arme, ramé, mare, ream

Cognate with Dutch maar.

mear

1. but

From Middle Irish mer, from Proto-Celtic *meros (“crazy”), of uncertain origin. Cognate with Middle Welsh meredig.^[1]

• IPA^(key): /mʲaɾˠ/

mear (genitive singular masculine mear, genitive singular feminine mire, plural meara, comparative mire)

1. quick, fast, nimble, lively, spirited
2. precipitate, hasty, rash; quick-tempered, fiery

   Synonym: tobann

3. (literary)
   1. mad, crazy
   2. furious, raging, mad angry

mear (present analytic mearann, future analytic mearfaidh, verbal noun mearadh, past participle meartha)

1. (transitive, intransitive) Alternative form of mearaigh (“derange, distract; bewilder, confuse; excite, infuriate; bother, trouble; become distracted, bewildered; become infuriated”)

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
mear	mhear	not applicable
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “mear”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “mear”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “mear”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024

From Late Latin mediāre, from Latin medius. Compare mediar (a borrowed doublet).

• Homophone: miar (Portugal)
• Hyphenation: me‧ar

mear (first-person singular present meio, first-person singular preterite meei, past participle meado)

1. to halve (divide into two)

• meado
• meio

Inherited from Latin mēiere, reinterpreted in Vulgar Latin as a first-conjugation verb (*mēiāre). Compare Portuguese mijar and English micturate.

• IPA^(key): /meˈaɾ/ [meˈaɾ]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: me‧ar

mear (first-person singular present meo, first-person singular preterite meé, past participle meado)

1. (vulgar) to piss, to pee

   Synonyms: orinar, echar una meada

2. (vulgar, reflexive) to wet, to urinate accidentally in or on

• “mear”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Cognate with Dutch meer. Also compare the native form mar (“lake”). This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

• IPA^(key): /mɪə̯r/

mear c (plural mearen, diminutive mearke)

1. lake

“mear”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011

From Old Frisian māra, from Proto-West Germanic *maiʀō.

mear

1. comparative degree of folle: more

mear

1. To a greater degree or extent, more
2. Used to form the comparative degree of adjectives and adverbs where -er cannot be used.

• folle
• meast

“mear”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011