pair
/pɛɹ/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.72 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Two people in a relationship, partnership or friendship.
noun
Used with binary nouns (often in the plural to indicate multiple instances, since such nouns are plural only, except in some technical contexts).
noun
A couple of working animals attached to work together, as by a yoke.
Example Sentences
- "Ting, ting, ting! went the bell again. Every body sat down; the curtain shook, rose sufficiently high to display several pair of yellow boots paddling about, and there it remained."
- "Day after day, with the stamp and shuffle of sixty pair of bare feet behind me, each pair under a 60-lb. load."
- "So, one evening, I made a speech in English with gestures, not one of which was lost to the sixty pairs of eyes before me, and the next morning I started the hammock off in front all right."
- "Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet. Perhaps we assume that our name, address and search preferences will be viewed by some unseen pair of corporate eyes, probably not human, and don't mind that much."
- "I couldn't decide which of the pair of designer shirts I preferred, so I bought the pair."
- "[S]he had finished the second sock, and pulled its pair out of the bag before handing them to her husband."
Etymology
From Middle English paire, from Old French paire, from Latin paria (“equals”), neuter plural of par (“pair”). Related to pār (“equal”, adjective). Compare Saterland Frisian Poor (“pair”), West Frisian pear (“pair”), Dutch paar (“pair”), German Paar (“pair”), Italian paio (“pair”)
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /pɛɹ/
- British English: /pɛə/