yar
/jɑɹ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.75 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
Two rivers on the Isle of Wight, England, the Eastern Yar which reaches the sea at Bembridge, and the Western Yar at Yarmouth on the Solent. Both rivers are called the River Yar on Ordnance Survey Maps.
Example Sentences
- "The wynd was good, the Schip was yare."
- "1939, The Philadelphia Story written by Philip Barry My, she was yar...It means, uh...easy to handle, quick to the helm, fast, right. Everything a boat should be, until she develops dry rot."
- "...to make a ship best weighed, or yarest in her going."
- "Arr, here be a fine vessel: the yarest river-going boat there be."
- "At Merstone, The line to Sandown branches to the left, descends the ½ mile at 1 in 70 of Redway bank, and runs along the valley of the little River Yar (not to be confused with the River Yar in the western part of the island), through low-lying pleasing countryside, covered in spring and summer with wild flowers, to Horringford, 1¾ miles from Merstone."
Etymology
From Middle English ȝaren, ȝurren, ȝeorren, from Old English ġeorran, ġirran, gyrran (“to sound, chatter, grunt, creak, grate”), from Proto-West Germanic *gerran (“to creak”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to make a noise, rattle, gurgle, grumble”). Cognate with Scots yarr, yirr (“to snarl, growl, quarrel, cause trouble”), Middle High German girren (“to roar, cry, rattle, chatter”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: ȝaren, ȝurren, ȝeorren, ġeorran, ġirran, gyrran, *gerran, *gʰer-, yar, ġearu
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /jɑɹ/
- British English: /jɑː/
Usage
- Intransitive verb
- British usage
Inflected Forms
yars (present, singular)
yarring (participle, present)
yarred (participle, past)
yarred (past)
yarr (alternative)
more yar (comparative)
most yar (superlative)
yarer (comparative)
yarest (superlative)
yare (alternative)