Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

chair

/t͡ʃɛɚ/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: 4.69 in modern English

Syllables
chair
IPA
/t͡ʃɛɚ/
10
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

An item of furniture used to sit on or in, comprising a seat, legs or wheels, back, and sometimes arm rests, for use by one person.

noun

Clipping of chairperson.

noun

The post or position of chairperson.

noun

The seating position of a particular musician in an orchestra.

noun

A cast-iron component used on railways to support bullhead rails and secure them to the sleepers.

noun

One of two possible conformers of cyclohexane rings (the other being boat), shaped roughly like a chair.

noun

Ellipsis of electric chair (“device used for performing execution”).

Informal

noun

A distinguished professorship at a university.

Example Sentences

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥-th₂der.? Proto-Hellenic *kətá Ancient Greek κατά (katá) Proto-Indo-European *sed-der. Proto-Indo-European *sedreh₂ Proto-Hellenic *hédrā Ancient Greek ἕδρα (hédra) Ancient Greek κᾰθέδρᾱ (kăthédrā)bor. Latin cathedrader. Old French chaierebor. Middle English chayere English chair From Middle English chayere, chayer, chayre, from Old French chaiere, chaere, from Latin cathedra (“seat”), from Ancient Greek καθέδρα (kathédra), from κατά (katá, “down”) + ἕδρα (hédra, “seat”). Partially displaced native stool and settle, which now have more specialised senses. Doublet of cathedra and chaise.

Origin

Word Breakdown

Regional Pronunciation

  • American English: /t͡ʃɛɚ/
  • British English: /t͡ʃɛə/

Usage

Subject

Wiktionary places this term in Chemistry.

Inflected Forms

chairs (plural) chur (alternative) chairs (present, singular) chairing (participle, present) chaired (participle, past) chaired (past)

Derived Forms

armchair bedchair chairback chairborne chairbound chaircover chairdrobe chairfast chairfolk chairful chairholder chairhood

Phrases

Adirondack chair air chair almost fall off one's chair arm-chair banana chair barber-chair barber chair Barcelona chair

Frequently Paired Words

stool couch sofa settee love seat bench

Synonyms

professorship electric chair death chair hot seat president chairperson moderate lead

Homonyms

chare (pane–pain merger) cheer (cheer–chair merger)

Rhymes With

their there where care they're air share hair fair wear square aware

Questions

How do you pronounce chair?
The recorded pronunciation is /t͡ʃɛɚ/.
What does chair mean?
An item of furniture used to sit on or in, comprising a seat, legs or wheels, back, and sometimes arm rests, for use by one person.
Where does chair come from?
It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce chair

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “chair”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/t͡ʃɛɚ/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “chair”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “chair” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.