ember

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A piece of coal or wood glowing by heat; a hot coal.
  2. Smoldering ash.
adj
  1. Making a circuit of the year or the seasons; recurring in each quarter of the year, as certain religious days set apart for fasting and prayer.
name
  1. A unisex given name.

Pronunciation

/ˈɛm.bəː/ [ˈɛɱ.bəː] LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ember.wav /ˈɛm.bɚ/ [ˈɛ̟ɱ.bɚ] ~ [ˈɛ̟ɱ.bɹ̩] LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vininn126-ember.wav /ˈɪm.bɚ/ [ˈɪ̟ɱ.bɚ] ~ [ˈɪ̟ɱ.bɹ̩]

Word forms

ember embers

Etymology

From Middle English embre, eymbre, aymer, eymere, emeri, from Old English ǣmyrġe, from Proto-West Germanic *aimuʀjā, from Proto-Germanic *aimuzjǭ, a compound of *aimaz + *uzjǭ. The latter is from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ews- (“to burn”). The b is intrusive and was added in English for ease of pronunciation when the vowel of the second syllable (y) disappeared. See also Old High German eimuria (“pyre”), Danish emmer, Swedish mörja (“embers”).

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.