acre
English
Alternative forms
- aker (archaic)
- acer ( -er form, chiefly UK)
Etymology
From Middle English acre, aker, from Old English æcer (“field where crops are grown”), from Proto-West Germanic *ak(k)r, from Proto-Germanic *akraz (“field”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵros (“field”).
Cognate with Scots acre, aker, acker (“acre, field, arable land”), North Frisian ecir (“field, a measure of land”), West Frisian eker (“field”), Dutch akker (“field”), German Acker (“field, acre”), Norwegian åker (“field”) and Swedish åker (“field”), Icelandic akur (“field”), Latin ager (“land, field, acre, countryside”), Ancient Greek ἀγρός (agrós, “field”), Sanskrit अज्र (ájra, “field, plain”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: āʹkə, IPA(key): /ˈeɪ.kə/
- (General American) enPR: āʹkər, IPA(key): /ˈeɪ.kɚ/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -eɪkə(ɹ)
Noun
acre (plural acres)
- An English unit of land area (symbol: a. or ac.) originally denoting a day's ploughing for a yoke of oxen, now standardized as 4,840 square yards or 4,046.86 square metres.
- 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion:
- Buried within the Mediterranean littoral are some seventy to ninety million tons of slag from ancient smelting, about a third of it concentrated in Iberia. This ceaseless industrial fueling caused the deforestation of an estimated fifty to seventy million acres of woodlands.
- (Chester, historical) An area of 10,240 square yards or 4 quarters.[1]
-
- Any of various similar units of area in other systems.
- (informal, usually in the plural) A wide expanse.
- I like my new house - there’s acres of space!
- (informal, usually in the plural) A large quantity.
- (obsolete) A field.
- (obsolete) The acre's breadth by the length, English units of length equal to the statute dimensions of the acre: 22 yds (≈20 m) by 220 yds (≈200 m).
- (obsolete) A duel fought between individual Scots and Englishmen in the borderlands.
Synonyms
- (approximate): day's math, demath
- (Egyptian): feddan
- (Dutch): morgen
- (French): arpent, arpen, pose
- (India): cawney, cawny, bigha
- (Ireland): Irish acre, collop, plantation acre
- (Roman): juger, jugerum
- (Scottish): Scottish acre, Scots acre, Scotch acre, acair
- (Wales): Welsh acre, cover, cyfair, erw, stang
Hypernyms
- (100 carucates, notionally) See hundred
- (the area able to be plowed by 8 oxen in a year) See carucate
- (the area able to be plowed by two oxen in a year) See virgate
- (the area able to be plowed by an ox in a year) See oxgang
- (the area able to be plowed by an ox in half a season) See nook
- (the area able to be plowed by an ox in 1⁄4 a season) See fardel
- (10 acres, prob. spurious) acreme
Hyponyms
- (1⁄4 acre) See rood
- (1⁄160 acre) lug, perch, (now chiefly Scottish) fall
Derived terms
- acreable
- acreage
- acre breadth, acre's breadth, acre brede
- acred
- acre-dale
- acre foot, acre-foot
- acre-land
- acre length, acre's length, acre lengh
- acreless
- acreman
- acreme
- acre money
- acre shot
- acre-staff
- all over hell's half acre
- black acre, black-acre
- broad acres
- church acre
- Cornish acre
- Cunningham acre
- English acre
- Fool's acre
- geld-acre
- God's acre
- Irish acre
- long-acre
- lug-acre
- plantation acre
- Scots acre, Scottish acre
- share acre
- starve-acre
- statute acre
- stave-acre
- tenantry acre
- Welsh acre
- white acre
Related terms
- acorn
- Greenacre
- wiseacre
Descendants
- → Irish: acra
- Norwegian Bokmål: acre
- Malay: ekar
Translations
|
References
- Robert Holland, M.R.A.C., A Glossary of Words Used in the County of Chester, Part I--A to F., English Dialect Society, London, 1884, 3
See also
- international acre
- north forty
- US survey acre
- Weights and measures
- Wikipedia article on the acre
- Hufe
References
- Robert Holland, M.R.A.C., A Glossary of Words Used in the County of Chester, Part I--A to F., English Dialect Society, London, 1884, 2
Anagrams
- -care, CERA, Care, Cera, Crea, Race, acer, care, e-car, race, race-
French
Etymology
Probably from Old Norse akr reenforced by Old English æcer (“a field, land, that which is sown, sown land, cultivated land; a definite quantity of land, land which a yoke of oxen could plough in a day, an acre, a certain quantity of land, strip of plough-land; crop”) .
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /akʁ/
audio (file) Audio (US) (file)
Noun
acre f (plural acres)
- (historical) acre
Further reading
- “acre”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
- âcre, care, créa, race
Italian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈa.kre/
- Rhymes: -akre
- Hyphenation: à‧cre
Etymology 1
From Latin ācre, neuter nominative singular of ācer (“sharp”). Doublet of agro.
Adjective
acre (plural acri, superlative acerrimo)
- sharp, sour
- Synonyms: acido, agro, aspro
- Synonyms: amabile, dolce
- (by extension):
- penetrating (of a smell)
- Synonym: pungente
- shrill (of a sound)
- Synonym: stridente
- penetrating (of a smell)
- harsh, malevolent
- Synonyms: acido, aspro
- Synonyms: amabile, dolce
Derived terms
- acremente
Related terms
- acredine
Further reading
- acre in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Noun
acre f pl
- plural of acra
Anagrams
- Arce, c'era, care, cera, crea, reca
Latin
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈaː.kre/, [ˈäːkrɛ]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈa.kre/, [ˈäːkre]
Adjective
ācre
- neuter nominative/accusative/vocative singular of ācer
References
- “acre”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- acre in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
- “acre”, in Richard Stillwell et al., editor (1976) The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press
Middle English
Noun
acre
- Alternative form of acorn
Noun
acre
- Alternative form of aker
Norman
Etymology
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Noun
acre f (plural acres)
- (Jersey) acre
Norwegian Bokmål
Etymology
From English acre, from Middle English acre, aker (“field, acre”), from Old English æcer (“field where crops are grown, acre”), from Proto-West Germanic *ak(k)r (“field, open land; acre”), from Proto-Germanic *akraz (“field, open land”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵros (“field, pasturage”), possibly from *h₂eǵ- (“to drive”). Doublet of åker.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈæɪ.kər/
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -ər
- Hyphenation: a‧cre
- Homophone: eiker
Noun
acre m (definite singular acren, indefinite plural acre or acres, definite plural acrene)
- an acre (an English unit of land area (symbol: ac.) originally denoting a day's plowing for a yoke of oxen, now standardized as 4,840 square yards or 4,046.86 square meters)
- 1920, Jonas Lie, Samlede Digterverker IV, page 288:
- han havde kjøbt de 125,000 acres land af et kompani eller rettere en bande af svindlere
- he had bought the 125,000 acres of land from a company or rather a gang of scammers
- 1936, Knut Hamsun, Ringen sluttet I, page 85:
- liten elendig farm, firti acres
- small miserable farm, forty acres
- 1987, Richard Herrmann, Victoria, page 168:
- [glasshuset] dekket et område på 26 acres, som skulle bli over hundre norske mål
- [the glass house] covered an area of 26 acres, which was to be over a hundred Norwegian acres
-
References
- “acre” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
- “acre” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).
- “acre” in Store norske leksikon
Anagrams
- race
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology
From English acre, from Middle English acre, aker (“field, acre”), from Old English æcer (“field where crops are grown, acre”), from Proto-West Germanic *ak(k)r (“field, open land”), from Proto-Germanic *akraz (“field, open land”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵros (“field, pasturage”), possibly from *h₂eǵ- (“to drive”). Doublet of åker.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈæɪ.kər/
Audio (file)
Noun
acre m (plural acren)
- an acre (an English unit of land area (symbol: ac.) originally denoting a day's plowing for a yoke of oxen, now standardized as 4,840 square yards or 4,046.86 square meters)
References
- “acre” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Old Irish
Noun
acre n
- Alternative spelling of acrae
Mutation
Old Irish mutation | ||
---|---|---|
Radical | Lenition | Nasalization |
acre | unchanged | n-acre |
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. |
Portuguese
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈa.kɾi/
- (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈa.kɾe/
- (Portugal) IPA(key): /ˈa.kɾ(ɨ)/
- Homophone: Acre
- Hyphenation: a‧cre
Etymology 1
Borrowed from Latin ācre, neuter nominative singular of ācer (“sharp”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ḱrós (“sharp”). Doublet of agre, agro, and ágrio.
Alternative forms
- agre
Adjective
acre m or f (plural acres)
- sharp (unpleasantly acrid or tart in taste)
Etymology 2
Borrowed from English acre, from Middle English acre, aker, from Old English æcer, from Proto-West Germanic *ak(k)r, from Proto-Germanic *akraz (“field”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵros (“field”). Doublet of agro.
Noun
acre m (plural acres)
- (measure) English or American acre, a unit of area about equal to 0.4 hectares
Coordinate terms
- geira (traditional Portuguese equivalent)
Romanian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈa.kre/
Adjective
acre
- feminine/neuter plural nominative/accusative of acru
Scots
Alternative forms
- acker, ackre, accre, aacre, awker
Etymology
From Middle English aker, from Old English æcer (“field; acre”), from Proto-West Germanic *ak(k)r.
Pronunciation
- (Northern) IPA(key): /ˈɑ(ː)kər/
- (Central) IPA(key): /ˈekər/
- (Southern) IPA(key): /ˈjɪ̢kər/
Noun
acre (plural acres)
- An acre (unit of measurement).
- As a lineal measure.
- piece of ground.
Usage notes
The plural is acre when following a numeral.
Verb
acre (present participle acrin')
- To let grain crops be harvested at a stated sum per acre.
- To be employed in harvesting grain crops at a stated sum per acre.
Derived terms
- acrer
- acrin'
- acre-a-bung
References
- “acre, n. v.” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.
- Eagle, Andy, ed. (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary, Scots Online.
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈakɾe/ [ˈa.kɾe]
- Rhymes: -akɾe
- Syllabification: a‧cre
Etymology 1
From Latin ācer (genitive singular ācris). Cf. also agrio.
Adjective
acre (plural acres)
- bitter; acrid; pungent
- caustic
Derived terms
- acremente
Related terms
- acérrimo
- acritud
Etymology 2
From English acre. Doublet of agro.
Noun
acre m (plural acres)
- English or American acre
Further reading
- “acre”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
Anagrams
- arce, caer, cera, crea