first
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first¹
- /fɜːst/ UK
- /feːst/ UK
- /fɛːst/ UK
- /fɔːst/ Northumbria, UK
- /fɪrst/ Scotland, UK
- /fʌrst/ Scotland, UK
- /føːst/ UK, Wales
- /fɚst/ US
- /føːst/ New Zealand
- /fʊːɹs/
- [fɚːst] Canada
- [fəɹst] Canada
- /fɜ(r)sʈ/ South Asia
- /fə(r)sʈ/ South Asia
- /fʊrst/ Early Modern
- /fɪrst/ Early Modern, rare
Sounds like thirst (th-fronting) · Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)st
Where it comes from
From Middle English first, furst, ferst, fyrst, from Old English fyrest, from Proto-West Germanic *furist, from Proto-Germanic *furistaz (“first, foremost”), superlative of Proto-Germanic *furai, *furi (“before”), from Proto-Indo-European *preh₂- (“before”), from *per- (“before; first”), equivalent to fore + -est.
Cognates
Cognate with Scots first (“first”), Dutch voorste (“foremost, first”), vorst (“prince”), German Fürst (“chief, prince”, literally “first (born)”), Limburgish Vürsch (“prince”), Luxembourgish viischt (“anterior; forward”), Vilamovian fiyśt, fjəšt, fjyśt, fjyšt (“prince”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål først (“first”), Faroese and Icelandic fyrstur (“first”), Norwegian Nynorsk fyrst, først (“first”), Swedish först (“first”); also Latin prīnceps (“first, foremost; chief”), Greek παρ’ (par’), παρά (pará, “despite; less”), Mycenaean Greek 𐀞𐀫 (pa-ro, “from”), Albanian parë (“first; chief, main”), Latgalian pyrmais (“first”), Latvian pirmais (“first; foremost”), Lithuanian pirmas (“first; primary”), Bulgarian пъ́рви (pắrvi), пръ́в (prắv, “first”), Czech and Slovak prvý (“first”), Macedonian прв (prv), први (prvi, “first”), Polish piersy, pierwszy, pirszy (“first”), Russian пе́рвый (pérvyj, “first”), Serbo-Croatian пр̑вӣ, pȓvī (“first”), Slovene prvi (“first”), Armenian հարավ (harav, “south”), Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬎𐬭𐬎𐬎𐬀 (paᵘruua, “before, first”), Tocharian A pärwat (“first”), Tocharian B parwe (“first”), Sanskrit पूर्व (pūrva, “before”).
adjective firstmost · 1st · Ist · I · I. · furst
- Preceding all others of a series or kind; the ordinal of one; earliest. Hancock was first to arrive.
- Most eminent or exalted; most excellent; chief; highest. Demosthenes was the first orator of Greece.
- Of or belonging to a first family. First Cat; First Daughter; First Dog; First Son
- Coming right after the zeroth in things that use zero-based numbering.
adverb 1st · Ist · I · I. · furst · firste
- Before anything else; firstly. Clean the sink first, before you even think of starting to cook.
- For the first time. I first witnessed a death when I was nine years old.
noun firsts · 1st · Ist · I · I. · furst
- The person or thing in the first position. He was the first to complete the course.
- The first gear of an engine.
- Something that has never happened before; a new occurrence. This is a first. For once he has nothing to say.
- First base. There was a close play at first.
- A first-class honours degree. [Stephen Hawking] […] would go to Cambridge, he said, if they gave him a first, and stay at Oxford if they gave him a second. He got a first.
- A first-edition copy of some publication.
- A fraction whose (integer) denominator ends in the digit 1. one forty-first of the estate
verb firsts · firsting · firsted · 1st · Ist
- To propose (a new motion) in a meeting, which must subsequently be seconded. This motion has been firsted and seconded. I desire to third it.
first²
- /fɜːst/ UK
- /feːst/ UK
- /fɛːst/ UK
- /fɔːst/ Northumbria, UK
- /fɪrst/ Scotland, UK
- /fʌrst/ Scotland, UK
- /føːst/ UK, Wales
- /fɚst/ US
- /føːst/ New Zealand
- /fʊːɹs/
- [fɚːst] Canada
- [fəɹst] Canada
- /fɜ(r)sʈ/ South Asia
- /fə(r)sʈ/ South Asia
- /fʊrst/ Early Modern
- /fɪrst/ Early Modern, rare
Sounds like thirst (th-fronting) · Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)st
Where it comes from
From Middle English first, furst, fyrst, from Old English fyrst, fierst, first (“period, space of time, time, respite, truce”), from Proto-Germanic *frestaz, *fristiz, *frestą (“date, appointed time”), from Proto-Indo-European *pres-, *per- (“forward, forth, over, beyond”). Cognate with North Frisian ferst, frest (“period, time”), German Frist (“period, deadline, term”), Swedish frist (“deadline, respite, reprieve, time-limit”), Icelandic frestur (“period”). See also frist.
noun firsts
- Time; time granted; respite.
First³
Where it comes from
* As a German surname, variant of Fürst, Furst.
* As a Jewish surname, from Yiddish פֿירשט (firsht, “prince”), a rendition of the above.
* As a Serbo-Croatian and Slovene, from the noun firšt (“prince”), a loanword from German and thus related to the above.
proper noun
- A surname.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: original, initial, number one, first off, firstly, basic, prime, premier, introductory, initiative, prototypic, prototypal, initiatory, archetypical, prototypical, inaugural
Translations
Every language
adj numeral first — see also 1st
| Español | primer |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 첫째 cheotjjae, 첫 번째 cheot beonjjae, 제일 jeil, 최초 choecho |
| 日本語 | 第一 daiichi, 最初 saisho, 初めて hajimete, 初 hatsu, 一番目 ichibanme |
| 中文 | 第一 dìyī, 最初 zuìchū |
| हिन्दी | पहला pahlā, प्रथम pratham, पहिला pahilā, अव्वल avval, प्रारंभिक prārambhik |
| Kiswahili | -a kwanza |
| Português | primeiro |
| Français | premier, -unième |
| Deutsch | erster, erste |
| Italiano | primo |
| Ελληνικά | πρώτος prótos, πρᾶτος prâtos |
| Română | prim |
| Русский | пе́рвый pérvyj |
| Tiếng Việt | thứ nhất, đầu tiên |
| العربية | أَوَّل ʔawwal, أُولَى ʔūlā |
| עברית | רִאשׁוֹן rishón |
adv before anything else
| Español | primeramente, para empezar |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 우선 useon |
| 日本語 | 先ず mazu, 第一に daiichi ni, 最初に saisho ni, 先に saki ni |
| 中文 | 第一 dìyī, 首先 shǒuxiān, 先 xiān, 最先 zuìxiān |
| हिन्दी | अव्वल avval, प्रारंभिक prārambhik |
| Português | primeiro |
| Français | avant tout, en premier lieu, d'abord, premièrement, primo, auparavant |
| Deutsch | erstens, an erster Stelle, zuerst, als Erstes |
| Italiano | prima, dapprima |
| Ελληνικά | πρώτα próta, πρωτίστως protístos |
| Română | întâi |
| Русский | во-пе́рвых vo-pérvyx, пре́жде всего́ préžde vsevó, в пе́рвую о́чередь v pérvuju óčeredʹ, сперва́ spervá |
| Tiếng Việt | trước tiên, trước hết, trước nhất |
| العربية | أَوَّلاً ʔawwalan |
noun person or thing in the first position
| Español | primero, primo |
|---|---|
| हिन्दी | अव्वल avval, प्रथम pratham, प्रारंभिक prārambhik |
| Português | primeiro |
| Français | premier |
| Deutsch | Erste |
| Italiano | primo |
| Ελληνικά | πρώτος prótos |
| Română | primul, întâiul, întâi |
| Русский | пе́рвый pérvyj |
| العربية | أَوَّل ʔawwal |
noun colloquial: a first-edition copy
| Deutsch | Erstausgabe |
|---|
Talk about this word "first." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/first. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. first. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/first "first." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/first.Cite this
@misc{first_2026,
title = {first},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/first},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
