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fir

[fur]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR fir ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

any coniferous tree belonging to the genus Abies, of the pine family, characterized by its pyramidal style of growth, flat needles, and erect cones.
the wood of such a tree.

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RELATED WORDS

cedar, pine, wood, douglas, conifer, alpine

Nearby words

  1. fippenny bit,
  2. fippeny,
  3. fipple,
  4. fipple flute,
  5. fiqh,
  6. firbank,
  7. firbolg,
  8. firbolgs,
  9. firdausi,
  10. firdusi

Origin of fir

1250–1300; Middle English firre, Old English fyrh; cognate with Old Saxon furie; akin to Old English furh- (in fuhrwudu pine), Old Norse fura fir, Latin quercus oak (< *perkwu-)
Can be confusedfir fur

FIR

far-infrared radiation.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for fir

British Dictionary definitions for fir

fir

noun

any pyramidal coniferous tree of the N temperate genus Abies, having single needle-like leaves and erect cones: family PinaceaeSee also red fir, silver fir, balsam fir
any of various other trees of the family Pinaceae, such as the Douglas fir
the wood of any of these trees

Word Origin for fir

Old English furh; related to Old Norse fura, Old High German foraha fir, Latin quercus oak
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for fir

fir

n.

14c.; Old English had furhwudu "pine wood," but the modern word is more likely from Old Norse fyri- "fir" or Old Danish fyr, all from Proto-Germanic *furkhon (cf. Old High German foraha, German Föhre "fir"), from PIE root *perkos, originally "oak" (cf. Sanskrit paraktah "the holy fig tree," Hindi pargai "the evergreen oak," Latin quercus "oak," Lombardic fereha "a kind of oak").

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper