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

But Runhappy’s sire, Super Saver, won the 2010 Derby, and So Happy’s grandsire on his mother’s side is Blame, who captured the Breeders’ Cup Classic later that year at Churchill Downs.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 2, 2026

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

The average breeding-purebred male dog, called a sire, will father more than 100 puppies.

From Slate ● Oct. 9, 2023

“I am not doing a capable job, sire; please forgive me and believe me when I say that my failures were those of the body and mind and not of the heart.”

From "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman

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

“If they’re not by a sire who throws sires, they tend to run longer,” Baffert said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2021

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

Now, as the Biscuit challenged War Admiral, Hard Tack’s fee was $1,000, comparable to that of some of the nation’s most prominent 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 was sired by Curlin with Mopotism as the mare.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2025

Otto sired six calves, including Dara - its most recent offspring - who was born in January 2023.

From BBC ● Jan. 10, 2025

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

From Science Daily ● May 1, 2024

The church supper is the grandfather of the country club, just as the Thursday poetry reading in the basement under the vestry sired the little theater.

From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck

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

A Dutch court banned a man Friday from donating any more of his sperm after his donations led to the siring of 550 to 600 children.

From Washington Times ● Apr. 28, 2023

"Females benefit by preventing these unwanted males from siring any of her young. That means her chosen partner gets most of the paternity, and therefore she gains the benefit through her offspring," says Dr Brennan.

From Salon ● Jul. 25, 2021

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

But Louie, the instant her uncle stopped, broke into a siring of questions, shrill and breathless, her face quite white, her eyes glittering.

From The History of David Grieve by Ward, Humphry, Mrs.