Tier

See also: tier

Bavarian

Etymology

From Middle High German tier, from Old High German tior, from Proto-West Germanic *deuʀ, from Proto-Germanic *deuzą, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewsóm. Given the unusual plural and the less frequent use than the native term Viech probably a rather recent borrowing from German Tier.

Pronunciation

Noun

Tier f (plural Tiere)

  1. animal

Synonyms

German

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle High German tier, from Old High German tior, from Proto-West Germanic *deuʀ, from Proto-Germanic *deuzą, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewsóm.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /tiːr/, [tʰiːɐ̯]
  • Rhymes: -iːɐ̯
  • Audio(file)
  • Audio(file)

Noun

Tier n (strong, genitive Tieres or Tiers, plural Tiere, diminutive Tierchen n or Tierlein n)

  1. animal (see usage notes below)
    • 2010, Der Spiegel‎, number 25/2010, page 140:
      Mit seinen 30 Meter Länge und mitunter mehr als 150 Tonnen Gewicht übertrifft der Blauwal jedes andere Tier auf Erden.
      With its length of 30 meters and weight of sometimes more than 150 tons the blue whale surpasses every other animal on Earth.
  2. A person who has a quality thought of as animalistic, such as ferocity, strength, hairiness, etc.
    Wenn er getrunken hat, wird er zum Tier.
    When he’s had a drink, he turns into an animal.
  3. (hunting jargon) hind (female red deer)

Usage notes
  • Like English “animal”, German Tier has several possible scopes of meaning: Restriction to non-human land mammals is archaic. Restriction to non-human tetrapods is dated. The commonest contemporary use is that including all non-human animals. The inclusion of man is scientific, but also possible otherwise depending on the context.
  • In informal speech, the word sometimes refers specifically to insects, spiders, etc.: Mach mal das Fenster zu, dass keine Tiere reinkommen. (“Close the window please, so no bugs get inside.”)

Declension
Declension of Tier [neuter, strong]
singular plural
indef. def. noun def. noun
nominative ein das Tier die Tiere
genitive eines des Tieres, Tiers der Tiere
dative einem dem Tier, Tiere1 den Tieren
accusative ein das Tier die Tiere

1Now rare, see notes.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

See also

Further reading
  • “Tier” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
  • “Tier” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
  • “Tier” in Duden online
  • Tier on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia de

Mohawk

Etymology

From French Pierre.

Proper noun

Tier

  1. Peter

References
  • Nora Deering, Helga H. Delisle (1976) Mohawk: A teaching grammar (preliminary version), Quebec: Manitou College, page 489
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