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mare

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mare¹

  • /mɛə/ UK
  • /mɛɹ/ Canada, US
  • /meː/ Australia
  • /meə/ New Zealand
  • /miə/
  • /meɹ/ Scotland
  • /mɜː(ɹ)/

Sounds like mere (cheer–chair merger), myrrh (fair–fur merger) · Rhymes with -ɛə(ɹ)

Where it comes from

From Middle English mare, meare, meir, mer, mere, meyre, mure, from Old English mīere (“female horse, mare”), from Proto-West Germanic *marhijā, from Proto-Germanic *marhijō (“female horse”), from *marhaz (“horse”), from Proto-Indo-European *márkos (“horse”).

Cognates

Cognate with Scots mere (“mare”), Saterland Frisian Märe (“mare”), West Frisian merje (“mare”), Dutch merrie (“mare”), German Mähre (“female horse”), Danish mær (“old mare”), Faroese mer (“mare”), Icelandic meri (“mare”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk merr (“mare”), Swedish mæhr, mær, mähr, märr (“mare”); also Breton marc'h (“horse”), Cornish margh (“horse”), Irish and Scottish Gaelic marc (“horse”), Welsh march (“horse”).

noun mares · meare

  1. An adult female horse. But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶[…]The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window at the old mare feeding in the meadow below by the brook, and a 'bead' could be drawn upon

    Opposite: stallion, stud, gelding

  2. Ireland, UK, derogatory, slang A foolish woman. The silly mare phoned your mother, talking about applying for a mortgage, and we don't want that, do we?

mare²

  • /mɛə/ UK
  • /mɛɚ/ US

Sounds like mayor (in a number of dialects) · Rhymes with -ɛə(ɹ)

Where it comes from

Inherited from Middle English mare, from Old English mare (“nightmare, monster”), from Proto-West Germanic *marā, from Proto-Germanic *marǭ (“nightmare, incubus”), from Proto-Indo-European *mor- (“feminine evil spirit”). Doublet of mara.

After becoming obsolete in its original usage, the term was recreated in modern colloquial speech as a clipping of the derived term nightmare.

Cognates

Akin to Dutch (dial.) mare, German (dial.) Mahr, Old Norse mara ( > Danish mare, Swedish mara (“incubus, nightmare”); also Old Irish Morrígan (“phantom queen”), Albanian merë (“horror”), Polish zmora (“nightmare”), Czech mura (“nightmare, moth”), Greek Μόρα (Móra).

noun mares

  1. historical, obsolete A type of evil spirit formerly thought to sit on the chest of a sleeping person; also, the feeling of suffocation felt during sleep, attributed to such a spirit (likely a folkloric interpretation of sleep paralysis).
  2. Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, colloquial A nightmare; a frustrating or terrible experience. I'm having a complete mare today.

mare³

  • /ˈmɑɹ.eɪ/ US
  • /ˈmɛɚ.i/ US
  • /ˈmɑɹ.i/ US

Rhymes with -ɑɹi

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Latin mare (“sea”), from Proto-Italic *mari, from Proto-Indo-European *móri, possibly from *mer-. Doublet of maar and mere (“a body of standing water”).

noun maria

  1. A large, dark plain, which may have the appearance of a sea, such as those on the Moon.
  2. On Saturn's moon Titan, any of several lakes which are large expanses of what is thought to be liquid hydrocarbons. Kraken Mare (a lake of liquid hydrocarbons on Titan which is slightly larger than the Caspian Sea)

mare⁴

Where it comes from

See mayor.

noun mares

  1. obsolete Obsolete form of mayor
  2. obsolete Obsolete form of mair

Mare⁵

proper noun

  1. A diminutive of the female given names Mary, Maria, Marianne, and other female names beginning with Mar- , from Hebrew.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: female horse, horse, pony, puddle, pool, pond, maritime, marine, sea, ocean, mar, girl, lot, great, baltic, mediterranean

Translations

Every language

noun female horse

Españolyegua, jaca
한국어암말 ammal
日本語牝馬 hinba
中文騍馬 /骒马 kèmǎ, 母馬 /母马 mǔmǎ
हिन्दीघोड़ी ghoṛī
Portuguêségua
Françaisjument
DeutschStute, Mähre, Pferdeweibchen
Italianocavalla
Ελληνικάφοράδα foráda
Românăiapă
Русскийкобы́ла kobýla
Tiếng Việtngựa cái
العربيةحِجْر ḥijr, فَرَس faras
עבריתסוסה, סוּסָה susá

noun evil spirit

DeutschMahr, Alb, Nachtalb, Drude
Italianoincubo

noun frustrating or terrible experience

Italianoincubo

noun planetology: dark circular plain

中文月海 yuèhǎi
Portuguêsmar
DeutschMare
Italianomare
Русскиймо́ре móre
Tiếng Việtbiển Mặt Trăng

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Cite this
MLA

"mare." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/mare. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

mare. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/mare

Chicago

"mare." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/mare.

BibTeX
@misc{mare_2026,
  title = {mare},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/mare},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}