ter

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /teɾ/, [tɛɾ]
• Rhymes: -eɾ

Etymology 1

From Proto-Albanian *taura, from Proto-Indo-European *táwros.

Etymology 2

From Proto-Albanian *tarsja, from *torseje, from Proto-Indo-European *torséyeti (“to make dry”), from *ters- (“dry”). Cognate to Sanskrit तृष्यति (tṛṣyati), Latin torreo, Old Norse þerra.^[1]

References

Further reading

• FGJSSH: Fjalor i gjuhës së sotme shqipe [Dictionary of the modern Albanian language]‎, 1980
• “ter”, in FGJSH: Fjalor i gjuhës shqipe [Dictionary of the Albanian language] (in Albanian), 2006
• Mann, S. E. (1948) “ter”, in An Historical Albanian–English Dictionary, London: Longmans, Green & Co., page 513

Adjective

ter

1. devastated, ruined
2. disabled

Etymology

Contraction of te +‎ der (“the”, dative singular feminine). Compare German zur.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Contraction

ter

1. for, for the (followed by a feminine singular noun, e.g., one ending in -ing)

   Stichting ter Bevordering van de Duiksport

   Foundation for the Advancement of Scubadiving

2. in the

   De Katholieke Universiteit Leuven is de oudste universiteit van de Nederlanden en tevens de oudste nog bestaande katholieke universiteit ter wereld.

   The Catholic University of Leuven is the oldest university of the Low Countries and also the oldest still existing catholic university in the world.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adverb

ter

1. (in street numbering) b; designating a third house with the same number

   34 ter rue de Dunkerque ― 34b Dunkirk Street

Further reading

• “ter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese teer, from earlier tẽer, from Latin tenēre (“to hold, to have”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈteːɾ]

Verb

ter (first-person singular present teño, first-person singular preterite tiven, past participle tido)
ter (first-person singular present tenho, first-person singular preterite tivem or tive, past participle tido, reintegrationist norm)

1. to hold, have
2. to possess

   Synonym: posuír

3. (auxiliary) ought [with de (+ infinitive) ‘to do something’]

   Murmurai murmuradores / non fartaivos de murmurar / que an'que vos salten os ollos / teño de rir e cantar (folk song)

   Let's gossip, you gossipers / Never get tired of gossiping / 'cause even if your eyes pop out / I ought to laugh and sing.

   • 1707, Salvador Francisco Roel, Entremés ao real e feliz parto da nosa raíña:

     Afonso:
     E como està o afillado?
     Christobo:
     Esse jà quer ir a Escola,
     pero porque non tèn sayo
     està decote na Eyra
     para escorrentar o Gando.
     Afonso:
     Pois esso non e ben feyto,
     porque e vivo coma vn allo,
     fino coma vnha pimenta,
     e se quer ser Lecenceado
     an que venda os bois do jugo
     lle teño de dar estado.

     Afonso:
     How is doing my godchild?
     Christobo:
     He already want to go to school,
     but since he has no robe
     is all the time in the field
     to drive away the livestock.
     Afonso:
     But this is not correct,
     because he is smart as a whip,
     acute as a pepper grain,
     and if he wants to be a bachelor,
     even if I have to sell the yoke oxen,
     I ought to give him estate.

See also

• haber

References

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “te_er”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “teer”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “ter”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “ter”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “ter”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɛr/
• Hyphenation: tèr

Etymology 1

From Dutch teer (“tar”), from Proto-Germanic *terwą, from Proto-Indo-European *derwo-.

Etymology 2

Unknown.

Etymology 3

Learned borrowing from Latin ter (“thrice”).

Further reading

• “ter” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Etymology

From earlier terr, from Old Latin *tris, from Proto-Italic *tris, from Proto-Indo-European *trís. Cognate with Ancient Greek τρίς (trís, “thrice”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ter/, [t̪ɛr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ter/, [t̪ɛr]

Adverb

ter (not comparable)

1. thrice, three times
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.690-691:

     Ter sēsē attollēns cubitōque adnīxa levāvit,
     ter revolūta torō est [...].

     Lifting herself three times, [Dido] had tried to raise upon her elbow, and thrice she had rolled back upon the bed [...].

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 5.247–248:

     ‘ter voluī prōmittere opem, ter lingua retenta est:
     īra Iovis magnī causa timōris erat’

     “Thrice I wanted to promise help, thrice [my] tongue was stayed:
     the anger of mighty Jupiter was the reason for [my] fear.”
     (The poetic voice is that of Flora.)

   • 2004, Ephemeris‎:

     Olafur Ragnar Grimsson ter iam primarius minister Islandiae electus est.

     Olafur Ragnar Grimsson has been elected as the president of Iceland for a third time.

2. three as understood symbolically in a cultural context
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.509–511:

     Stant ārae circum, et crīnēs effūsa sacerdōs
     ter centum tonat ōre deōs, Erebumque Chaosque,
     tergeminamque Hecatēn, tria virginis ōra Diānae.

     Altars are standing all around [the pyre], and the priestess — with her hair flowing — thunders from her lips thrice a hundred gods’ [names]: Erebus and Chaos, triform Hecate, [and] the three faces of virgin Diana.
     (The priestess who invokes “ter centum” deities may be calling three hundred gods, 100 gods three times, or “hundreds of” or “a great many,” and some of the named gods have tri-part symbolism. Threes have special significance in myth, folklore and ritual; see: Lease, Emory B., The Number Three, Mysterious, Mystic, Magic. Classical Philology, Jan., 1919, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 56-73.)

References

• “ter”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ter”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • hence these tears; there's the rub: hinc illae lacrimae (proverb.) (Ter. And. 1. 1. 99; Cael. 25. 61)
    
  • I'm undone! it's all up with me: perii! actum est de me! (Ter. Ad. 3. 2. 26)
    
  • one thing still makes me hesitate: unus mihi restat scrupulus (Ter. Andr. 5. 4. 37) (cf. too religio, sect. XI. 2)
    
  • to hiss a play: fabulam exigere (Ter. Andr. Pol.)
    
  • these are mere empty phrases: haec verba sunt (Ter. Phorm. 3. 2. 32)
    
  • what will become of me: quid (de) me fiet? (Ter. Heaut. 4. 3. 37)
    
  • to love and make a bosom friend of a person: aliquem in sinu gestare (aliquis est in sinu alicuius) (Ter. Ad. 4. 5. 75)
    
  • monstrous: o facinus indignum! (Ter. Andr. 1. 1. 118)
    

Contraction

ter

1. Contraction of te der.

Etymology 1

From Old English teoru, teru, from Proto-Germanic *terwą, from Proto-Indo-European *dérwom. Forms with a short vowel are possibly from an Old English form *teor with loss of the final vowel.

Etymology 2

Etymology 3

Verb

ter

1. present of te (reflexive), (behave)

Anagrams

• ert, tre

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ter/

Verb

ter

1. singular imperative of teran

Etymology

Perhaps cognate to Lithuanian and Latvian te (“here!, here you are!”),^[1][2] or to the related Lithuanian prefix te-,^[1][3] which can either express the hortative mood — as in tedirba, "may he work" — or, more pertinently, the meaning "only" — as in teturiu, "I have only". Possibly more distantly related to Russian тепе́рь (tepérʹ, “now”)^[1][2] and to Ancient Greek τῆ (tê, “here!”).^[4]

Alternatively, the Prussian morpheme -er- may be functionally equivalent to Latvian -ik-, Lithuanian -ik-, -iek-. For example, er (“until”) parallels Lithuanian iki, ik, and erains (“everyone”) parallels Latvian ikviens. Under this hypothesis, ter would be composed of t- (demonstrative prefix) + -er (suffix denoting extent), and thus be equivalent to Lithuanian tik (“only”) or tiek (“that much”).^[5][6]

Adverb

ter

1. The meaning of this term is uncertain. Possibilities include: 1. only, merely; 2. than, other than.

   ter ains ― alone (literally, “only one”)

   • 1561, Martin Luther, translated by Abel Will & Paul Megott, Stas Likuts Catechismus [The Small Catechism], →OCLC, page 115, line 25:

     bhe kai ſteſmu nimaſſi kittawidin pogalbton boūt / ter kai tans praſtan Crixtiſnan is Deiwan naunagimton

     and that he may not be helped in any other way / [only; other than] that he was born new through baptism out of God

References

Alternative forms

• têr (obsolete)

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese teer, from earlier Old Galician-Portuguese tẽer, Latin tenēre.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ter

Verb

ter (first-person singular present tenho, first-person singular preterite tive, past participle tido)

1. to have
   1. (transitive) to own; to possess; to have; to have got

      Synonym: possuir

      Tenho uma bela casa.

      I have a beautiful house.

   2. (intransitive) to be rich, to have plenty of money; or, to have enough money to live comfortably

      Os caridosos sempre ajudam os que menos têm.

      The charitable always help those who don’t have enough.

   3. (transitive) to have as a component or to consist of

      Synonyms: possuir, consistir de

      Esta frase tem cinco palavras.

      This sentence has five words.

      As lanças têm cabos compridos.

      Spears have long shafts.

   4. (transitive) to have (to be related in some way to, with the object identifying the relationship)

      Este livro tem dono.

      This book has an owner.

      Tenho três irmãs.

      I have three sisters.

   5. (transitive) to be in possession of; to have as part of one’s personal effects; to have in hand

      Synonym: carregar

      O senhor tem a sua carteira?

      Do you have your wallet on you?

   6. (transitive) to consist of a certain amount of units of measurement

      Tenho quarenta anos.

      I am forty years old.

      (literally, “I have forty years”)

      Tenho 1,78 m de altura.

      I am 1.78 m tall.

      Esta caneta tem dez centímetros.

      This pen is ten centimeters long.

   7. (transitive) to have a certain characteristic

      Este jogo não tem graça.

      This game isn’t fun.

      (literally, “this game doesn’t have fun”)

      As palavras que dizes têm significado.

      The words you say have meaning.

   8. (transitive) to be afflicted with a certain disease or other medical condition

      Synonyms: sofrer de

      Tens um resfriado.

      You have a cold.

   9. (transitive) indicates that the subject has an event (the object) scheduled

      Temos uma partida de xadrez daqui a uma semana.

      We have a chess match in a week.

   10. (Brazil, intransitive) to receive one’s wage

       Synonym: receber

       Ainda não tive esse mês.

       I still haven’t received my wage this month.

2. (auxiliary) must; to have to [with de (+ infinitive) or que (+ infinitive) ‘do something’]

   Synonyms: dever, precisar

   • 2003, J. K. Rowling, Lia Wyler, Harry Potter e a Ordem da Fênix, Rocco, page 538:

     Sinto muito ter de contradizê-la, Minerva, mas, como pode ver no meu bilhete, Harry tem obtido resultados muito fracos nas minhas aulas...

     I'm sorry to contradict you, Minerva, but, as you can see in my note, Harry has obtained very weak results in my classes...

3. (auxiliary) to have
   1. (imperfect indicative forms followed by a masculine singular past participle); forms the past perfect

      Tínhamos já comido bolo.

      We had eaten cake already.

   2. (present indicative forms followed by a masculine singular past participle) forms the present perfect progressive

      Tenho comido muita carne ultimamente.

      I have been eating a lot of meat lately.

   3. (conditional forms followed by a masculine singular past participle) forms the conditional perfect

      Eu o teria comprado, se tivesse dinheiro.

      I would have bought it, if I had money.

4. (Brazil, impersonal, transitive) there be (to exist, physically or abstractly)

   Synonyms: haver, existir (personal)

   Amanhã terá aula.

   There will be class tomorrow.

   Tem países em guerra naquela região.

   There are countries at war in that region.

5. (transitive) to give birth to

   Synonyms: dar à luz, parir

   A vaca terá um bezerro.

   The cow will give birth to a calf.

   Estou tendo gêmeos!

   I'm having twins!

6. (transitive) to consider (assign some quality to) [with direct object ‘someone’, along with por or como (+ copulative noun or adjective)]

   Todos têm João por inteligente.

   Everyone considers John to be intelligent.

   Synonym: considerar

   João o tinha como amigo.

   John considered him a friend.

7. (transitive) to go to; to interact [with com ‘with someone’]
   • 1948, Bíblia Sagrada, edição Almeida Revista e Corrigida, Provérbios 6:6

   Vá ter com a formiga, ó preguiçoso; considera os seus caminhos e sê sábio.

   Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise.

Further reading

• “ter”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025
• “ter”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “ter”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025
• “ter”, in iDicionário Aulete (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• “ter”, in Dicio – Dicionário Online de Português (in Portuguese), Porto: 7Graus, 2009–2025

Etymology

From Proto-Turkic *tẹr (“sweat”).

Noun

ter

1. sweat

References

Tenishev, Edhem (1976) “ter”, in Stroj salárskovo jazyká [Grammar of Salar], Moscow

Alternative forms

• te
• tere

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *teže, from Proto-Slavic *te + *že.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ter/

Conjunction

ter (Cyrillic spelling тер)

1. (Croatia, poetic, archaic) and

   Synonyms: i, te

Romanization

ter

1. Romanization of 𒌁 (ter)

Verb

ter

1. present indicative of te

Anagrams

• ert, tre

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish تر (ter, “sweat”), from Proto-Turkic *tẹr (“sweat”). Cognate with Old Turkic [script needed] (ter), Karakhanid تَرْ (ter), Azerbaijani tər, etc.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tæɾ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æɾ

Noun

ter

1. sweat

Further reading

• “ter”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu

Etymology

From Proto-Turkic *tẹr (“sweat”).

Noun

ter

1. sweat

Etymology

From French ter, from Latin ter (“thrice”).

Adverb

ter

1. (in street numbering) b; designating a third house with the same number.

See also

• bis
• kép

References

• Đỗ Phi Hùng (2012 February 13) “Vẫn loay hoay trong "mê hồn trận" số nhà”, in Tuổi Trẻ‎ (in Vietnamese), Ho Chi Minh City, retrieved 2022-03-12

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [teɾ]

Noun

ter (nominative plural ters)

1. aunt or uncle