wir

Translingual

Symbol

wir

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Wiraféd.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Wiraféd terms

German

Alternative forms

• Wir (pluralis majestatis)
• -wa, wa (rare, colloquial)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *wéyder.

Proto-Germanic *wīz

Proto-West Germanic *wiʀ

Old High German wir

Middle High German wir

German wir

From Middle High German wir, from Old High German wir, from Proto-West Germanic *wiʀ, from Proto-Germanic *wīz, from Proto-Indo-European *wéy. Compare Low German wi, Dutch wij, English we, Danish vi, Icelandic vér, Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍃 (weis).

Pronunciation

• (standard) IPA^(key): /viːɐ̯/
• Rhymes: -iːɐ̯

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• (colloquially in unstressed position) IPA^(key): /vɐ/, /mɐ/

Pronoun

wir

1. we

Declension

German personal pronouns

	singular					plural			sing. and pl.
	1st person	2nd person familiar1	3rd person			1st person	2nd person familiar1	3rd person	2nd person polite/formal
			m	f	n
nominative	ich	du -e2	er	sie -se2	es	wir	ihr	sie -se2	Sie Ihr3
genitive	meiner mein3	deiner dein3	seiner sein3	ihrer	seiner sein3	unser	euer	ihrer	Ihrer Euer3
dative	mir	dir	ihm	ihr	ihm	uns	euch	ihnen	Ihnen Euch3
accusative	mich	dich	ihn	sie -se2	es	uns	euch	sie -se2	Sie Euch3

¹These forms are sometimes capitalized, especially in letters.    ²enclitic, colloquial    ³archaic

• The genitive case unser is used more and more rarely in modern German.
• While the genitive of a personal pronoun does express ownership, it must not be confused with a possessive pronoun. While possessive pronouns such as unser are put in front of the noun they relate to and follow the inflection rules of adjectives, the genitive form of a personal pronoun has only one form, which is not further inflected. Additionally, personal pronouns in the genitive can be put after the word they relate to.

Further reading

• “wir” in Duden online
• “wir”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[1] (in German)

Middle High German

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *wéyder.

Proto-Germanic *wīz

Proto-West Germanic *wiʀ

Old High German wir

Middle High German wir

From Old High German wir, from Proto-West Germanic *wiʀ, from Proto-Germanic *wīz, *wiz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (before 13^th CE) /ˈwir/

Pronoun

wir

1. we: nominative plural of ich

Inflection

Middle High German personal pronouns

			nominative	genitive	dative	accusative
singular	first person		ich	mīn	mir	mich
	second person		du, dū	dīn	dir	dich
	third person	m	ër CG hë(r)	sīn	im(e)	in
		f	siu	ir(e)	ir(e)	sie
		n	ëȥ CG iȥ, it	es	im(e)	ëȥ CG iȥ, it
plural	first person		wir	unser	uns	uns, unsich
	second person		ir	iuwer	iu, iuch	iuch
	third person	m	sie	ir(e)	in	sie
		f
		n	siu			siu

The distinction of the forms siu and sie as shown above is typical of earlier Upper German texts, but was never general. The forms sī and si existed additionally and all four were increasingly used without differentiation.

Descendants

• Bavarian:
  • Cimbrian: biar, bar (Sette Comuni)
  • Mòcheno: biar
• German: wir

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *wīraz. Cognate with Middle Low German wīre, and related to late Old Norse víravirki (“filigree work”), Old High German wiara.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wiːr/
• Rhymes: -iːr

Noun

wīr m (nominative plural wīras)

1. wire
2. (botany) myrtle

Declension

Strong a-stem:

	singular	plural
nominative	wīr	wīras
accusative	wīr	wīras
genitive	wīres	wīra
dative	wīre	wīrum

Descendants

• Middle English: wir, wyr
  • Scots: wire, weyr
  • English: wire

Old High German

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *wiʀ, from Proto-Germanic *wīz, *wiz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wir/

Pronoun

wir

1. we: nominative plural of ih

Inflection

Old High German personal pronouns

			nominative	genitive	dative	accusative
singular	first person		ih (ihha, ihcha)	mīn	mir	mih
	second person		dū	dīn	dir	dih
	third person	m	er (her)	(sīn)	imu, imo	inan, in
		f	siu; sī, si	ira (iru, iro)	iru, iro	sia
		n	iz	es, is	imu, imo	iz
plural	first person		wir	unsēr	uns	unsih
	second person1		ir	iuwēr	iu	iuwih
	third person	n	sie	iro	im, in	sie
		f	sio	sio
		n	siu	siu

¹ Also polite singular form

Descendants

• Bavarian:
  • Cimbrian: biar, bar (Sette Comuni)
  • Mòcheno: biar
• German: wir

Polish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Old Polish wir

Polish wir

Inherited from Old Polish wir.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvir/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ir
• Syllabification: wir

Noun

wir m inan

1. vortex

   Synonyms: kłębowisko, odmęt

   wir polarny ― polar vortex

2. whirlpool

   Synonyms: topiel, odmęt

3. whirl

   Synonyms: kłębowisko, kotłowisko

4. (meteorology) swirl

   Synonym: trąba powietrzna

5. eddy
6. gyre

   Wir Morza Beauforta ― Beaufort Gyre

7. (meteorology) whirlwind

Declension

Declension of wir

	singular	plural
nominative	wir	wiry
genitive	wiru	wirów
dative	wirowi	wirom
accusative	wir	wiry
instrumental	wirem	wirami
locative	wirze	wirach
vocative	wirze	wiry

Derived terms

nouns

• wir pyłowy

verbs

• wirować impf

Further reading

• “wir”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[2] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “wir”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[3] (in Polish)

Scots

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wər/

Etymology 1

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

wir

1. simple past tense of be

Usage notes

Wir is used with plural pronouns, and wis is used otherwise.

Etymology 2

Determiner

wir

1. alternative form of our

References

• “wir, possess. adj.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 24 May 2024, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.

Welsh

Noun

wir

1. soft mutation of gwir

Mutation

Mutated forms of gwir

radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
gwir	wir	ngwir	unchanged

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.