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Deer

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deer¹

  • /dɪə/ Australia, UK
  • /dɪɹ/ US
  • /diːɹ/
  • /diə/ New Zealand
  • /dɛː/

Sounds like dear, dare (cheer–chair merger) · Rhymes with -ɪə(ɹ)

Where it comes from

From Middle English der, deer (“animal, deer”), from Old English dēor (“animal”), from Proto-West Germanic *deuʀ, from Proto-Germanic *deuzą, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewsóm (“living thing”), from *dʰéws (“breath”), full-grade derivative of *dʰwes-.

Cognate with Scots deer (“deer”), North Frisian dier (“animal, beast”), West Frisian dier (“animal, beast”), Dutch dier (“animal, beast”), German Low German Deer, Deert (“animal”), German Tier (“animal, beast”), Swedish djur (“animal, beast”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk dyr (“animal, beast”), Icelandic dýr (“animal, beast”).

Related also to Albanian dash (“ram”) (possibly), Lithuanian daũsos (“upper air; heaven”), Lithuanian dùsti (“to sigh”), Russian душа́ (dušá, “breath, spirit”), Lithuanian dvė̃sti (“to breathe, exhale”), Sanskrit ध्वंसति (dhvaṃsati, “he falls to dust”).

For the semantic development compare Latin animālis (“animal”), from anima (“breath, spirit”).

noun deer · deers

  1. countable A ruminant mammal with hooves and often antlers, of the family Cervidae, or one of several similar animals from related families of the order Artiodactyla, such as the musk deer or mouse deer. Deer sperm was in used among the Romans as an aphrodisiac.
  2. countable Such a mammal that is in the family Cervidae. Nara and its deer are so closely associated that the light-brown colored animals are pictured in the city’s tourism ads, on buses, train tickets and more.
  3. countable One of the smaller animals of the family Cervidae, distinguished from a moose or elk. I wrecked my car after a deer ran across the road.
  4. uncountable The meat of such an animal, obtained through the process of hunting or from specialized deer farms; venison. I'd never had deer before I ate dinner with the Johanssens. In time I learned to like it; its gaminess is an acquired taste.
  5. countable Any animal, especially a quadrupedal mammal as opposed to a bird, fish, etc. But mice and rats and such small deer, have been Tom's food for seven long year.

Deer²

Where it comes from

Probably from Pictish *deru (“oak”), from Proto-Brythonic *dar.

proper noun

  1. Villages in Aberdeenshire, Scotland: See New Deer and Old Deer.
  2. A township in Roseau County, Minnesota, United States.
  3. An unincorporated community in Osage County, Missouri, United States.

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