ewer

American  

[yoo-er] / ˈyu ər /

noun

1. a pitcher with a wide spout.

2. Decorative Art. a vessel having a spout and a handle, especially a tall, slender vessel with a base.

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ewer British  

/ ˈjuːə /

noun

1. a large jug or pitcher with a wide mouth

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Etymology

Origin of ewer

1275–1325; Middle English < Anglo-French; Old French evier < Latin aquārius vessel for water, equivalent to aqu ( a ) water + -ārius -ary

Explanation

A ewer is a jug or a pitcher — it's a container used to hold and pour liquids. Ewers tend to be more decorative than useful. The word ewer is a bit formal and even uncommon these days, but you may hear it used to describe ceremonial vessels like the ornate sterling silver America's Cup, the trophy awarded to the winning yacht team in the America's Cup race. It's called a cup, but it's really a ewer. The Latin root of ewer is aquarius, "of or for water."

Example Sentences

The tub may be wooden, the ewer convincingly rendered as base metal, but the bedding and Mary’s gown are of silk with golden threads that is recognizably Italian.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 26, 2025

A dragon curls its tail around the base of a golden, long-neck ewer, its body forming a handle of protruding, pointy scales.

From Washington Post • Nov. 10, 2021

But they’re irrelevant to counteracting the rupture of a vanished world that, a thousand years ago in China, brought about a stoneware ewer in the shape of a parrot.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 9, 2019

We sat at a wooden table near a mural of Jorjadze, who was portrayed in her usual headpiece, watering a tree with rivulets of newspaper that poured out of a clay ewer.

From The New Yorker • Apr. 22, 2019

“Just now as I drew it to fill this ewer the cook told me.”

From "The Door in the Wall" by Marguerite de Angeli