sire

American  

[sahy^uhr] / saɪər /

noun

• sires
  plural

1. the male parent of a quadruped.

2. a respectful term of address, now used only to a male sovereign.

3. Archaic.

   1. a father or forefather.

   2. a person of importance or in a position of authority, as a lord.

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verb (used with object)

• sires,
  present (3rd person singular)
• sired,
  past participle,  past
• siring
  present participle

1. to beget; procreate as the father.

sire British  

/ saɪə /

noun

1. a male parent, esp of a horse or other domestic animal

2. a respectful term of address, now used only in addressing a male monarch

3. obsolete a man of high rank

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verb

1. (tr) (esp of a domestic animal) to father; beget

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• sireless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• sires
  plural

Participles

• siring
  present
• sired
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• sire
  simple
• sires
  simple
• have sired
  perfect
• has sired
  perfect
• am siring
  progressive
• are siring
  progressive
• is siring
  progressive
• have been siring
  perfect progressive
• has been siring
  perfect progressive

Past

• sired
  simple
• had sired
  perfect
• was siring
  progressive
• were siring
  progressive
• had been siring
  perfect progressive

Future

• will sire
  simple
• will have sired
  perfect
• will be siring
  progressive
• will have been siring
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of sire

1175–1225; Middle English < Old French (nominative singular) < Vulgar Latin *seior, for Latin senior senior (compare French monsieur originally, my lord, with sieur < *seiōr-, oblique stem of *seior )

Explanation

A sire is an animal's father. A newborn foal might look very much like his sire, with a white stripe on his brown face. Every once in a while, the word sire is used for a human — your dad is your sire — but it's much more common to find this word describing an animal's male parent. It's also a verb, meaning "to father," as in "My prize pig sires the cutest piglets." In the old days, you'd also use sire to directly address a nobleman or a king. It comes from the Latin word senior, "elder."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sire sires sired siring

Three years on, the Purosangue remains an astonishing presence on any street, a provocation, an outrage, a moral panic—indeed, sire, very like a Ferrari.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 18, 2026

Green and gold colours of owner JP McManus look more likely to succeed elsewhere, although there is a breeding positive - Chantry House's sire Yeats was also dad to 2022 National winner Noble Yeats.

From BBC ● Apr. 3, 2025

And second, female cats can actually carry litters fathered by multiple males, so more partners means more chance of having a strong, healthy sire for at least some of the kittens.

From Slate ● Jan. 18, 2024

O’Neill, jockey Mario Gutierrez and owners Paul and Zillah Reddam won the 2016 Kentucky Derby with Nyquist, who is the sire of Slow Down Andy.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2023

The events that brought the two trainers together had begun in 1928, when Fitzsimmons was entrusted with the two-year-old Hard Tack, sire of the colt Smith would see at Suffolk Downs.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand

“I’ve had a lot of horses that were good horses but you just don’t know if they’re going to be sires or not,” Baffert said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2025

As it turns out, golden retrievers have the highest proportion of popular sires of any dog breed.

From Slate ● Oct. 9, 2023

The mare was sired by Northern Dancer, the first Canadian-bred horse to win the Kentucky Derby in 1964 who went on to become one of the sport’s greatest sires.

From Washington Times ● Jun. 6, 2023

Rickard said this compared to recently frozen semen from 19 sires used to inseminate 1,048 ewes, of which 618 were successfully impregnated.

From The Guardian ● Mar. 18, 2019

He would run in two more minor races, winning both, then go on to become one of the breed’s great sires.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand

Commodus, now a teenager, had shown he had none of his father’s nature; he so preferred athletics to statecraft that some believed he’d been sired by a gladiator.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 11, 2026

He has sired five chicks and, alongside his partner is considered “the most dominant condor pair in the park,” according to the Oregon Zoo.

From Seattle Times ● May 9, 2024

Mouse pups sired by dysbiotic fathers showed significantly lower birth weights and an increased rate of postnatal mortality.

From Science Daily ● May 1, 2024

Before coming to the zoo, Otto lived in a safari park in Denmark and he sired six calves during his time at Colchester.

From BBC ● Mar. 24, 2024

“I am pleased to meet the man who sired this boy,” he said grandly.

From "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George

Paramount Global has created numerous spin-offs of its main cable channels, with Nickelodeon siring five programming offspring, Nick Jr., Nick at Nite, TeenNick, Nicktoons and Nick Music.

From Reuters ● Sep. 14, 2023

There would likely still have been a sectarian power struggle over a weakened state, siring a civil war and brewing regional tensions.

From Slate ● Mar. 27, 2018

When Tom swaps Rachel for Anna as queen of Westchester, siring infant Evie but a year later, such rancor becomes even more understandable given the protagonist’s battle with infertility.

From Salon ● Oct. 14, 2016

Some Catholics in Kenya say priests should be allowed to marry because matrimony and the siring of children is an important part of Kenyan culture — also for clergy.

From Washington Times ● Nov. 24, 2015

To me has been given the privilege of siring a man, and I shall not affront him with requests for further favors.

From The Pride of Palomar by Kyne, Peter B. (Peter Bernard)